I can’t go very far without overhearing a woman complaining about her weight, body, or the food that she just ate (which “she shouldn’t have”). It is, unfortunately, what women seem to bond over most. The glue that binds, or more aptly put, the glue that renders us stuck and miserable.
Women’s Dressing Room Nightmares (Trying On Swimsuits And Beyond)
The never ending conversation about weight litters any place women frequent, be it public bathrooms, restaurants, coffee shops, bookstores, or grocery store aisles. Yet dressing rooms take the cake, where women absolutely tear themselves to shreds in the company of their female friends and family. The conversations are often so hostile, it’s almost surprising that anyone walks out standing.
As an experiment, I would encourage you to sit in a busy women’s dressing room for just fifteen minutes, and just listen what women do to themselves. Observe how their friends, mothers, or sisters go along for the ride down to depths of self-loathing. Perhaps offering occasional encouragement, but doing little to truly dissuade or stop the other from the barrage of self-recrimination. Often, they throw in negative comments about their own bodies in order to prove we (women, that is) are all in the same boat.
If that is true, I’ve decided to jump ship.
Do You Have To Hate Yourself To Lose Weight?
Now, I want to be honest in confessing that I have been one of the worst offenders of these crimes, so I do not hold myself blameless. I have just realized the futility of hating myself into losing weight or making other changes. Hate seems to be the very basis of modern motivation for losing weight. Egged on by society and modern media, women are encouraged to love ourselves once we are thin, and not one day before.
So it makes sense that we are all sitting in dressing rooms tearing ourselves apart, doesn’t it? We are, in some way, trying to encourage ourselves to make that desired change. We don’t know another way to go about losing weight except to hate ourselves there.
Why Not Love Yourself Thin?
I am offering the possibility that you do not have to hate yourself in order to lose weight. You do not have to tear yourself down in order to build yourself up. There are easier ways to go about it. Instead of fighting against yourself, why not join forces with yourself and encourage other females around you to do the same?
Perhaps we could then band together, take a dressing room hostage, and have a self-love party. We could try on fabulous clothes that fit and flatter the body we have today. We could each discuss what we like about ourselves inside and out, and have our friends and family members point out what they love about us. They we’d do them the same favor. We would all feel so good about ourselves that we would clearly see to how achieve any goal (including weight loss).
Just say the word, I’ll bring the champagne.
[Photo by rick]
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