Body Image

After watching today's episode of 106 & Park, I started really thinking about body image and how much the media affects us as women. We strive so hard to look like these models, singers, or actresses and to be 'perfect' but why? Because we have such tainted images and definitions of what beauty is, a lot of us are hurting ourselves by dangerous dieting, undergoing surgeries to fix what we don't like, and we exercise to an alarming extent. My best friend of seven years has been talking about how much she wants liposuction, a tummy tuck, a breast lift, and all other kinds of procedures for the past three years and it baffles me. I asked her countless times why she wants all this stuff and she barely has a valid argument. I honestly think she saw some celebrity and is trying to imitate what she saw. She's striving towards perfect but that's impossible. No one is perfect and I wish people would understand that. She's even confessed to me that she's jealous of me because I'm light-skinned. I think its absolutely absurd for her to be jealous of me because of my skin color. She's what society would say is 'dark skinned' but I love her color. She's constantly saying she's 'black' but I don't see it. I love her brown complexion and the way she looks and I wish she would learn to love herself the way she is.

I've dealt with body image issues my whole life. I've never been fully satisfied with the way I look but I accept what I can't change and work to fix what I can. I wish I had long flowing hair but I don't. Even with all the different ethnicities in my family, I still have 'black hair'. When I was younger I used to get teased because my hair was so thick and coarse and having a mother who's a tomboy didn't help either. I kept my hair in braids for majority of a life and didn't learn how to properly take care of it until I was 15. Now my top priority is making sure my hair is healthy. I never liked my weight either. It's been up and down for as long as I can remember and I initially joined the track team in high school in hopes of losing weight. I was put through rigorous training six days a week, three hours a day. I stole diet pills like Xenadrine Ultra and took them all the time. I ate about two or maybe even one meal a day because I wanted my body to be 'perfect'. There have been so many times where I cried myself to sleep because I hated myself.

But hate gets you nowhere. I've learned to love myself the way I am and accept the fact that I'll never be a size 2. I love my hips, lips, thighs, skin, hair, breasts and butt. There's always room for improvement so exercise is a must but I don't overdue do it. Women, we must learn to love ourselves and stop striving to reach these unattainable goals. Most of us will never be Beyonce, Amber Rose, Alicia Keys, or whoever. We have to love what God blessed us with and learn to work it because we are fabulous in our own right.