Start a Revolution

Eyeshades off.  Covers down.  Step on the scale.  Celebrate or freak out.

My morning routine is like that of many other girls.  Between brushing my teeth and getting dressed, a three-digit number determines my mood and actions for the rest of the day.  How is it that a mundane function of habit can dictate my self-worth for the next 24 hours?

We all do it.  We obsess over a number that society deems as too high or too low, or if we’re lucky, just right.  But the numbers don’t stop at the scale.  We obsess over the size of our jeans and the numbers on the tags of our tops and dresses.  Every single day, we have three different numerical codes telling us if popular culture thinks we’re skinny or fat.  And every single day, we torture ourselves to prevent falling into the latter category.

We limit our carb intake.  We become vegans or adopt a Paleo diet.  We starve ourselves before vacations.  We spend hours upon hours at the gym.  We say no to dessert.  Because God forbid, when I wake up the next morning, that three-digit number is one digit higher than the day before.

Somewhere along the way, skinny has become the new happy.  We are brainwashed into believing that in order to be beautiful, we must fit into a size 0, or die trying.  Even as smart and powerful women, we confuse wanting to love our bodies with wanting to be thin.  Society dissuades us from expressing any sort of contentment with our figures.  When given a compliment, we must subscribe to girl protocol and immediately follow it with self-deprecation.  We are deemed conceited if we dare to admit we like a self attribute.

It’s time to put an end to this indoctrination.  It’s time to start loving our bodies. Despite our size, we never feel like we are good enough.  I am petite but I am never going to be stick thin.  I am never going to be a super model.  And I will not be mistaken for Barbie or even her BFF Theresa in the near future.  And you know what I say to that?  F@#$ it.  Who the f is popular culture to tell me I’m not beautiful just the way I am?

Maybe I have what society deems as “thunder thighs,” but guess what?  Thunder invokes notions of a force of nature and power, and that’s exactly what they are.  Today, I ran 10 miles with my “thunder thighs” and I’d rather be able to say that than that I strutted a catwalk.

Think about it, we aim to be size zero’s…the definition of zero is literally nothing.  Why would I want to be nothing?  I want to be a whole lot of something.  I want to be a strong and empowered woman, not one that allows a yo-yoing number to determine her self-confidence.  I want to be happy with my body and revel in its strength and power.  Strong, both mentally and physically, is what is beautiful, and strong is what I aim to be. 

My body is perfect.  It’s perfect because I work for it.   

Stop letting a number determine your self-worth.  Stop confusing wanting to love your body with wanting to be skinny.  Take a compliment.  Give a compliment.  And make telling yourself that you are beautiful, a part of your morning routine every single day. 

As women, the revolution starts with us.