Body image in this country is at what appears an all time low. Some people are shining a light on it.
Ginger Snaap, from OhmyGawd! Just Do What I Say! put up a documentary from Dove. (Link pops in another tab.) It shows how warped our opinions of ourselves can really get.
Knowing I still had not written this post, I knew immediately from seeing that video where this one was headed.
Survey says…
As I have gotten older, I hear others’ opinions of my appearance less and less. A number of the people from Day 11 make a point to tell me I am beautiful. It gets a warm, yet wry, grin out of me, and I blush. I do not argue though. The same holds true when a complete stranger tells me this. One did on Sunday.
One of my beautiful daughters routinely laments not getting this or that feature of mine. I raise an eyebrow at her (one she thinks I should wax). When she was seen on a newscast recently, my friends picked her out before the station captioned her. My mother claims she fell from my nose…
No genetic intervention there.”
Long gone are the days when I was voted ugliest in my class. I did not argue then either. Why not? It is a matter of opinion. Yes, I am stalling. This post is supposed to be about my opinion.
Back When
The answer to the question has changed. In the past, I was far more concerned with the reflection I saw. Despite everyone around me with opposing opinions, mine was terrible. It took years for me to stop seeing in the mirror what truly was not there.
Even though I know better, every once in a while I still see something in the mirror no one else does. Those times are getting further apart. I know the box the package comes in gets thrown away.
Now I say…
I am comfortable with my appearance. Comfortable enough to be fresh-faced.
I have the occasional handful of pounds I would like to drop. I get determined, and I do. This often coincides with events where I would like to wear certain attire, of which I do not approve unless my figure fits inside appropriately.
I see the grey hairs. I cover them up. (Never pluck them. Seven more grow in their place.)
I have wrinkles. I earned them. I laugh often and have huge dimples. After spending 25 years having to show my identification to buy wine, it is nice for the teenager not old enough to sell it to me to no longer ask.
There is little about my appearance I would change other than my teeth. Given enough time and a sufficient number of trips to the dentist I found who has listened, I will have that all pulled out. No, not straightened out. I did the braces thing in high school. I cannot keep my teeth, so I am getting ahead of the game.
What I would change, however, is the damage on the inside. It will require a wand. Medical science is not prepared to repair what is beneath the skin.
My 43rd birthday
Not too bad, if I do say so.
Are you comfortable in your own skin?
Hashtags: #30daychallenge #bodyimage #beauty
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Valentine Logar
/ May 13, 2013You are drop dead whether fresh faced or otherwise. I suspect some of this comes from being comfortable in the skin you wear.
Most days, most days I simply accept what cannot be changed. Shrug and accept it. Not love it. Not hate it, just shrug and say what the hell.
Red of M3
/ May 28, 2013Some days, that is more than half the battle. The fact you and I laugh more than we gritch (which is a feat some days) makes it all easier. Well, that and Neiman Marcus. *grins* Who said that?
Prenin
/ May 14, 2013I’m 52, fat, am struggling to lose it despite the meds and, because of the meds, I am growing breasts.
I also found out on my last visit to the surgery that the doctor who checked me for breast cancer lied to me.
Am I comfortable in my own skin?
Yes, but I have much to improve! 🙂
Love and hugs my sweet friend! 🙂
Prenin.
Prenin recently posted..Monday – Doug knocks on again.
Red of M3
/ May 28, 2013But that is such a healthy attitude. Keep after, Ian. You will get there. 🙂
C. Brown
/ May 14, 2013Not too bad, at all!!!!
The dove commercial was a brilliant piece.
And the older I get I realize that what I look like has more to do with how I feel. And who is around me.
C. Brown recently posted..Fifty Dollars
Red of M3
/ May 28, 2013That is so very true, Colleen. Somewhere up this thread I made that comment to Val. Laughter keeps us young. So glad you stopped in for this one. xxx
Candy
/ May 14, 2013You’re actually quite beautiful on on the outside.
Regardless of what I think though, you are right about damage being in the inside. Such a nice way of saying it. I don’t think I have ever met someone that didn’t have at least a piece of beautiful on the outside…but, I have met more than my share of people who don’t admit to the “ugly” on their inside.
I think that my battle with body image really came to an end when I started to practice yoga. I no longer cared that my hips were too big or my thighs to large. I learned to appreciate them for their power.
As far as my face…I admittedly didn’t start wearing makeup until I started selling Mary Kay. Now I wear it when I feel like I need to hide from the world a tiny bit and protect myself. It isn’t that I don’t NEED to cover up my skins imperfections and blemishes and discolorations and add some highlights and colors, I just feel like a fraud wearing it.
Anyway…I think I turned into rambling.
Long story short. You are beautiful of face and most definitely of mind and I love you.
Thank you for writing this
<3
Candy recently posted..When Do You Wash Your Hands?
Red of M3
/ May 28, 2013Sweetpea, you are gorgeous just as you are. I have a fan club for you to prove it.
Admitting there is a piece on the inside which could use work is freeing. Once you begin working on the strength to overcome it, the confidence radiates the physical beauty to personify the inside.
And I love you, too. xxx
My Inner Chick
/ May 14, 2013S T U N N I N G.
That’s all I can say, Red.
Inside & Out. Xxx
My Inner Chick recently posted..Incident at Gatwick Airport
Red of M3
/ May 28, 2013Oh, thank you, dearest Kimmy. xxx I cannot wait to SEE you!!
Alexandra Heep
/ May 14, 2013I grew up the ugly duckling. I head it from my own family, then in school, then from other adults.
The more I age, however, the more comfortable I become with my looks. I’ve done away with makeup (on rare occasions I add mascara and tinted lip balm) and I do not wax my eyebrows. I do a little bit of cleanup on them, but that is it.
Tom loves the natural look on me and that he can randomly say: “let’s go here or there” and that I can be ready in a few minutes. It’s a freedom I relish!
The one thing I still do is color my hair. However, that is more of a self-expression thing. Okay, and now covering the grays too … Stylists would cluck disapprovingly about the 20 different shades in my hair, but I truly love my appearance now. It was a long, painful way to get there though.
Alexandra Heep recently posted..Gardening in the Trailer Park: To Sprout or not to Sprout
Red of M3
/ May 28, 2013Shame on whoever told you you were not beautiful. And I happen to love watching the colors change in your hair 😉 xxx
BuddhaKat
/ May 15, 2013I only ever wore makeup in spurts, more in my teen years than any other. I find it truly freeing to be fresh faced and ready to go without products and time I’d rather spend drinking coffee!
I think I have always been comfy in my own skin and bones, by and large, though there are the dysmorphia demons that get us all at one time or another.
From my perspective, Red, you have nothing to be uncomfortable about. Except perhaps those demons that lurk inside. But we all know dealing with them is also a part of the process, so I try not to let the demons take over, just let them know who’s in charge!!
Lovely post, my friend!!
43 and still shining!!
🙂
BuddhaKat recently posted..Fractal Euphoria…
Red of M3
/ May 28, 2013They only surface when I have parts which do not work the way I want them to or when. Thank you, my sweet friend 🙂 xxx
Gray Dawster
/ May 27, 2013How do you mean ‘Not too Bad’ you’re gorgeous and don’t let anyone say anything less 🙂 Now as for teeth, I too would love a completely new set of those groovy gnashers, the screw in type no less that give the appearance of gleaming white celebrity status porcelain, now those I could certainly approve of Red 🙂
Now where was I going with this comment? Ahh yes on your looks of course, now let us get one thing straight, you have a lovely complexion (stop interrupting or else?) and looking great 🙂
I mean let’s face it shopping at Peter Pan Incorporated has definitely given us, I mean given you the youthful smile, the wonderful figure and the nicest pair of…
Hold on a minute I had better reel in my thoughts on this one before I get into trouble but there is one thing for sure age is just a number and you are a lot younger looking than your years 🙂
By the way I meant
the nicest pair of pyjamas 🙂 lol
Andro xxxx
Red of M3
/ May 29, 2013I think dressing in cartoon characters is really deceptive. It works, no? LMAO!
Gray Dawster
/ June 5, 2013Hey stop being so naughty, I meant every word 🙂 😉
Actually I might try a Bugs Bunny all-in-one with matching Carrot 🙂 And I meant one for display purposes, not what you were thinking 😉 lmao
Andro xxxx
Red
/ June 5, 2013Oh, sure. *giggles*
benzeknees
/ May 29, 2013Still catching up – you are beautiful fresh faced or fully made up! Your face becomes more interesting as we age.
Red of M3
/ May 29, 2013Oh, thank you. I prefer mature faces to younger faces and always have.