I Don’t Like My Body, But I Accept It

I don’t like my body. I don’t have the perfect body, but neither do  my friends, family and acquaintances. Even the people who seem perfect have their flaws.

We live in a society where everything we see is fake. On TV, social media, on the news… We think it’s real, but it’s all artificial.

And what do we find on the internet? Advice and photos that encourage us to follow ridiculous beauty standards. They sometimes even encourage us to live up to ridiculous standards.

Do you remember being told that your waist could be as wide as an A4 piece of paper or that you had to be able to put a coin on your collarbone?

It’s not a joke. Many people take these kinds of challenges seriously. Many of these are  teenagers who later develop disorders such as bulimia and anorexia.

You are not perfect. And then?

Moving away from beauty standards means not being part of a group of people who think others have something they want.

We try to avoid being rejected by them and sometimes we lose our true selves in the process. Think of everything we give up just to fit their picture.

Just look around you. Who is actually perfect? Funnily enough, you don’t often see that image you have in mind walking down the street. Only in magazines, photos, advertisements…  Perfection is really impossible.

When someone has an eating disorder, they try to figure out what they see. However, what they see in the mirror is completely different. Ultimately, they no longer want to be part of this group of perfect people and opt for something else: individuals who share the same goals.

Have you ever been to a forum or website that encourages anorexia and bulimia? There are many and it is shocking to see how many followers they have. Here you see how people encourage each other not to eat for another day, to throw up and not let anything in their stomach, on their way  to certain death.

Meanwhile, they share photos of themselves and photos of thin famous people. Are they photoshopped? Today,  trusting that an image has not changed is the same as thinking that you can trust anyone. Nothing is what it seems.

Acceptance of your body brings healing

You don’t have to be like everyone else.  Being different is valued in many circles. Many people have become successful following ideas while others thought they were crazy.

Understand that humans are not designed not to eat.  If you’re an animal lover, do you want to see them undernourished? What about the kids you see on TV starving to death? Do you think they are happy with their bodies? They are not healthy and it is not beautiful to be unhealthy.

Your body is different from hers and that’s not a bad thing. That makes it interesting. Everyone is different.

You want a slim waist, but you don’t have that kind of body. You want less firm hips, but your bones won’t get slimmer by not eating. Some things you just can’t change, no matter how much you want to, and you have to accept that.

Accept what you can’t change

Learn to focus on what makes you really happy and what is really beautiful about your body.

You may not have realized it, but you worry so much about having a perfect body that you no longer do what you loved. If you weren’t so blinded by food, you were happier.

You are not now, because you are obsessed with achieving the impossible. You manage to lose weight, but you still have bones and a body that is nothing like what you wanted. To get out of this vicious circle, you have to accept it.

There are things you like about your body, but in your rush to look like others, you forgot about them. Don’t like your body? That’s okay, it’s not a crime, but not accepting your body is.

Love yourself as you are, without comparing yourself, without wanting to be what you are not. Don’t let your body be the scapegoat for your fears, frustrations, and insecurities. It’s not your body’s fault if you don’t accept it as it is. We are all perfectly imperfect.