Life
When you get embarrassed, it's tempting to think the world is ending. It's not. That's the thing about embarrassment. It has a nasty snowball effect. All the more reason not to be embarrassed about being embarrassed by your body, right?
In an essay for Huffington Post, called "The Myth of Perfection" athlete, plus-size Ford model and activist Melinda Parrish wrote, "rather than obsess over transforming my body, I work on transforming how I feel about my body." It's fine that, from time to time, you need to be reminded that perfection is a myth. It doesn't make you any less of a feminist or mean that someone who accepts body positivity can't be embarrassed about their appearance every so often. It makes you part of a culture that has spent longer than your lifetime sending the message that women are supposed to look a certain way. As Susie Orbach, author of the 1978 classic text Fat Is A Feminist Issue, told The Guardian, "we don't even know we hate our bodies because we take that for granted."
So, I don't know about y'all, but I'm going to make a concerted effort to stop policing my feelings about my body. There are a lot of other things I'd rather think about. But this is a difficult thing to do, so here are a couple reminders on why you shouldn't be embarrassed about being embarrassed about your body.
1
It's A Waste Of Time
Life is too precious to waste it feeling embarrassed about being embarrassed. Isn't that the definition of redundant?
2
No One's Judging You As Harshly As You're Judging Yourself
The old adage about being your harshest critic is true for the simple reason that people are too self-obsessed to being worrying about what's wrong with you.
3
Your Body Is In A Constant State Of Change
One of the cool things about having a body is that it can change. I'm not just talking about physically, but emotionally as well. Feelings are fleeting.
4
You're A Work In Progress
Not only are feelings fleeting, but you and the tons of women working on accepting the challenge of body positivity. Culture has presented women with a lot of roadblocks to accepting themselves as they are, so don't worry if it's taking you a bit to get hip to body self-acceptance.
5
You're Human
You're a human who is allowed to feel however they way to feel. Yes, it's great to love your body. But if there's a day where you wish you looked a little different, that's totally OK.
