Over here, Rachel is starting a series on body image. I look forward to reading it. Often we talk as if body image issues are the domain of teenage girls. Not so. As Rachel points out, mature women stupidly hanker after impossible, pre-adolescent thinness just as their daughters do, and judge themselves and others by their ability to attain such perfection.
I have nothing of any significance to say on the topic, no profound way forward in the battle to view our bodies rightly, but I feel like writing something, so I'll write a list.
7 things I can say to myself regarding body image.
1. I am a mature woman. I should expect to have the figure of a mature woman. I will not resent my hips and thighs. [Skinny jeans will always look stupid on me (as they do on most women) so I won't try them on.] Three children have grown in my womb. My shape will be different to what it was. This is a small price to pay. I will not make it my aim to look as if I am 20 years younger than I am and that I never bore children. This is an insult to my years and my family. I will aim to be healthy and fit for the tasks I want to do.
2. If I watch movies and tv shows where the heroines are pencil thin, I am going to want to be pencil thin too! If I think what I watch is not going to effect me, I am stupidly over-estimating my strength and discernment.
3. God has made me to need a certain amount of food to survive. Scientists have worked out how much this is, based on my gender, level of physical activity, age etc. It may be significantly less than I've trained my stomach and mind to think that I need. When I exceed this amount, I will put on weight. If I exceed it long term, I will have (often major) health issues and I will be fat.
4. Like all areas of life, the games of beauty and weight control are not played on a level playing field. If may be harder for me to keep my weight under control than it is for my friends. My friend may be prettier than I am. I need to stop looking over my shoulder and coveting her body.
5. I am thankful to God for my pretty and graceful friend. I find joy in her movement and appearance as I do in a purple and orange sunset or a mountain stream. I do not need to feel threatened by her beauty.
6. Losing weight and changing habits is hard work. If I cut what I'm eating by a third (as many Australian women need to do) I will suffer discomfit (I'll feel hungry and get headaches) while my body adjusts to the new regime. When I start exercising, it will hurt. I need to push through this.
7. I need to accept that my body is dying. Every day I am getting older and any efforts I make will have no effect on the final outcome. In a hundred years my body will be an unattractive pile of bones in the ground (as will that of my thin sister and fat cousin). Some things last beyond this life. They are more important.
Good points overall, particularly no. 7.
ReplyDeleteI love this post. All seven points really resonated with me. I hope you don't mind if I link to this post. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThanks Julie. Go for it. Link to me and I will feel loved!
ReplyDeleteGood list Simone. All of the points are helpful to keep remembering, especially #7, as Laetitia said.
ReplyDeleteIf I think what I watch is not going to effect me, I am stupidly over-estimating my strength and discernment.
ReplyDeleteYes. I pouted and put my shoulders back as I walked slowly out of the surf requesting a martini the other day. When I was asked who I was I said David Craig. I couldn't even get his name right. They though I meant Craig David and wondered why I'd want to look like him.
sigh.
Anyway, the point is that this isn't just a girl thing. But I think it's easier for guys because grey hair still matches the red carpet - so long as you're chiselled. And there's the rub.
What!?! You're not chiselled?
ReplyDelete#4 & #5 are hard. Pride and covetousness are insidious beasties.
ReplyDeleteRegards #1, it is hard for me to think of myself as a 'mature woman' just because I still feel young. We're also somewhat inbetween - we're not young and cannot wear the 'young' clothes that are everywhere. Neither are we middle aged or old. Finding clothes that express this is not easy. Sigh.
#7 does help us to keep our perspective - if we could just keep our eyes fixed on heaven and many of our struggles would be a lot easier to manage.