Beth's Ponderings
I belong to a year-long
women’s mentorship program, and is often the case with women, the issue of (negative)
body image came up at one point.
I wanted to share a
slightly different perspective on body acceptance in the group, so shared a
more personal (and emotionally raw and vulnerable) version of this…
“Unlike the
majority of women, I have been underweight my whole life. It got significantly
worse following my physical collapse 7 years ago as I lost 25 pounds (as we
tried to figure out what food was causing the problems) I did not really have
in excess to lose! So, I was down to 105 pounds and desperately trying to GAIN
weight to no avail.
Last Fall when we
finally discovered it was the tap water making me sick most of my life, and I
got the reverse osmosis unit, I started to gain weight! I had people coming up
to me and congratulating me on my weight gain, and I said I was probably the
only woman who was cheering and giving friends updates on how many pounds I had
gained. Just over 8 months later, I am now 150 pounds!!!
Buying clothes has
always been a challenge for me. I was
looking at clothes with a friend once. She
suggested an outfit and I told her “if it looks awesome on the hanger, it will
probably look great on me.” She freaked thinking I was putting myself down, but
that’s the type of figure I had - clothes hung on me the same as they did on a
hanger.
Now...I have curves
I’ve never had in my entire life! My clothes actually fit. I do double-takes when I walk by a mirror,
see a picture of myself, and even when I get undressed...this body - while it
feels good and healthier - LOOKS so
foreign to what I am used to.”
No matter what the
issue is that we are personally faced with, or conversely, personally avoiding
facing, our society is geared to the majority.
And while, there are benefits to that - just imagine the absolute chaos
and confusion if we had to include every possible option or configuration to
cover every possible scenario or outcome - we must remember that, ultimately,
EVERYONE is NOT the majority.
Beth
Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://sites.google.com/site/thechautauqua28/home/July%203%2C%202020%20Chautauqua.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1
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