I’m going to level with you right now–none of us are magazine cover perfect. News flash: none of us ever will be, because most of those models are air-brushed and Photoshopped beyond anything we could ever attain naturally. Now, I’m not going to go on a feminist media rant about how women are objectified in the media because that won’t do any good. What we hope to change with this article is that glum face you get when you look in the mirror! Everybody (and every body) is different, and that’s something worth celebrating! Whether you’re tall, short, skinny, fat, medium, pale, freckled, or tan, you’re you and you should cherish what makes you an individual! Keep on chugging to a realistic weight goal, but you’re got to love yourself every minute of the way and get healthy for the sake of being healthy, not to please everyone around you. Here are three things we found that will help inspire you to be in positive spirits!
1. Lentil the French Bulldog
[photo: Today]
Lentil is the most adorable dog in the world, and was the only one to survive out of his litter. Every single one of them was born with facial deformities, and he’s lucky that his owner, Lindsay Condefer, had the skill and love to care for him 24/7. He was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate, which prevented him from being able to eat on his own and gave his face an odd appearance. During surgery at the University of Pennsylvania, they fixed his cleft palate but decided to leave his cleft lip alone since it’s only aesthetic and doesn’t hurt him. Lentil’s story now inspires hundreds of children born with craniofacial difficulties and he serves as a fuzzy beacon of hope saying that it’s okay to be different!
2. You Are Not A Sketch – Star Models
[photo: Why World Why]
If these advertisements (which recently was voted one of the best print ads at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival) aren’t shocking enough, then you better get ready for these statistics. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, Inc., 47% of girl grade 5-12 reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures and 69% of girl in grade 5-12 reported that magazine pictures influenced their idea of a perfect body. Star Models is trying to change that by showing what sketched models would really look like in real life–and the results are scary.
3. The Seventeen Body Peace Project
[photo: The Reel Corner]
Seventeen Magazine may not be the best role model for positive body image, but they’re trying to change that with this down-to-earth project. How does it work? You sign the treaty on the project’s homepage here and then proclaim it to the world via social media. Easy! The hard part is living up to it, but there are tons of celebrities who have also taken the pledge to inspire you along the way.
I try to remember all the stuff in life that is far more important than what I eat or my workout routine. I once was in the hospital with pretty aweful injuries that took around a year to fully recover from, and at that time was when I realized that it mattered less let I look like and that I should just be grateful to be alive and keep myself healthy. Now that I’m better it is easy to forget this, but I try to remember.
I remember when I was younger I went to this seminar on how photoshop works – OMG they basically create people by splicing a nose from one person, eyes from another, a chin from someone else, etc! It’s nuts! The person doesn’t even exist in real life. Remember that movie Simone?! Exactly! The sad part is, is that so many people don’t know this! I had a friend who was constantly comparing herself to models and wondering WHY she didn’t look like that. I told her it was all fake and you should have seen the expression on her face. She was so confused because she had NO IDEA airbrushing and photoshop happened!
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