Eye of the Beholder or the Media?
As a Mass Communications major in college, I am still blown away by the social implications of mass media, which also includes the Internet. How we see ourselves and others — is it geared by our own heart or the influence of the media / social norms?
Anyway, this comes up as my best friend, who is a slimming (weight loss) expert and author, and I got into another round of debates about what it means to be overweight, or even what it means to be overly concerned (obsessed?) with losing weight.
The media shows us that if you are not tall, slender and almost anorexic, then you are not beautiful. We know that is faulty, yet we all yearn to look like these stick figures! Some of them look unhealthy to me, and as I age gracefully and peacefully, I notice how much I enjoy my more curvaceous womanly body.
Sure, I could easily lose 10 pounds to lose some of my belly (which five 8 lb. + babies popped out of, stretching it real good!), and maybe even a little extra on the thighs, but to be perfectly honest, it feels like more cushion to hold my children in, more to look at!
And am I ever good to look at!! LOL ;-))
Same with wrinkles, gray hair, etc. All this fear about aging and, oh my God… actually looking your age! My cousin thought she was complementing me when I posted on Facebook that I’m soon to turn 44, and how 4 is my favorite # — she says, “Oh my! You can’t be THAT old, you sure don’t look it!” So, what is 44 supposed to look like?! Old and droopy?!
Botox has made so much $$ on woman’s vanity and inability to accept themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I do purchase wrinkle free moisturizers (when I can afford it), and who knows, maybe one day I will sit under the knife, though I highly doubt it.
I henna my hair, as I did in college. I love it, it is all natural, straight from God and brightens and conditions my hair with no peroxide! Would I color the gray if I didn’t have my dear henna? Probably…
It’s not about trying to lose weight, be wrinkle or gray free, as much as it is about accepting who we are as we age, even if we don’t match the so-called beauty on the TV set. Anyway, beauty is skin-deep. The real beauty is something that radiates from the inside out.
That being said — age well, age in peace, and age is all in the mind anyway! I’m going to play hopscotch with my daughter now.
