The Body Image Epidemic | My Rambling Rant of the Day

I've been told that I'm 'too skinny' and that I need to gain weight. I've had friends tell me that they've been called 'fat', when all I see in them is a beautiful person. Every single person has been made differently. If everyone fit into this 'ideal' weight category, there wouldn't be any individuality and the world would lose a part of its beauty.

Telling someone, boy or girl, that they're too big or too small is never right. Making someone feel terrible about something they can't control is bullying.

That being said.

I'm not a fan of the new 'embrace who you are' songs being played on the radio. Not because I don't think that women (and men) should be comfortable with what they look like, but because most of these songs tend to have a sexual undertone.

There's a difference between feeling beautiful and being objectified.

Songs like Anaconda (Disclaimer: this is the most graphic song I have ever heard and don't recommend looking it up if you're unfamiliar with it) and All About that Bass claim to be sending 'woman empowerment' messages. Striving for the perfect body doesn't empower you because there is no such thing. There are healthy bodies, but there aren't perfect bodies. You aren't better if you have more or less in different part of you. 

God made humans in his likeness. He made each person carefully and purposefully. God loves beauty, and he gave humans an appreciation for beautiful things. When that idea of beauty get twisted, bad things happen.  Songs that give young girls the message that they need to be a certain way to be right for a guy are shaping them to believe that the end goal should be to please someone else. I don't want my little sister growing up to think that beauty is defined by the size of a person's rear end or whether or not they have a 'thigh gap'. 

What I'm basically trying to say is be nice to people. 

Don't ever make someone feel as if they aren't beautiful. Don't ever make someone feel like they're less of a person. Everyone is beautiful, so treat them that way. I've never met an 'ugly' person and I don't see the point of lying to someone about the way that they look just so you can feel better about yourself.

-Strength-

A while ago I decided that I was going to do 100 burpees everyday for 100 days. Now, I only lasted 20 days (mostly because I pushed myself too hard and hurt myself. Plus it's hard to be motivated to exercise when it's so cold. Anyways.), but those 20 days taught me something.

Strength builds over time.

I tend to go through spurts of time where I convince myself to turn my life around and become a better person overall. I eat healthier, read books that supposedly make you a better human being, and make pitiful attempts at exercising.

These spurts never last, and I'm pretty sure they don't actually make me a better person.

*However*

When I kept up this exercising for more than just a day or two, I started to feel better. I started to feel stronger. I almost even sort of liked exercising. I was always exhausted, but I also felt accomplished and pretty soon I was actually able to do a push-up! That's kind of a huge deal for me.

All of those times that I tried and then gave up right away did next to nothing in terms of making me actually stronger. Persistence is what created strength. I had plenty of motivation also, but motivation itself isn't enough to keep going. Motivation is a good thing, but it doesn't always last. It comes and goes in waves. Persistence and motivation, when paired together, work to create strength.

I'm realizing more and more that this doesn't just apply to physical strength, but emotional and spiritual strength as well.

Feeling depressed isn't fun, but it works to help you grow as a person. Emotional battles aren't a sign of weakness, they're a way of building strength. Persistence and endurance form who you're supposed to be.

It's not always fun to read the Bible. It doesn't always seem like there's time to pray. However, those things are important for the growth of your faith. When I read something from the Bible, but I don't get a 'spiritual high' or -feel- anything, it doesn't mean that I'm not learning about God. Prayer is a way to communicate with God. When you're friends with someone, you tell them what's going on in your life. It's the same thing with God. The Holy Spirit works faith regardless of how often you talk to God or read His Word, but amazing things can happen when you stop pushing into the background of your life.

Just because I didn't keep up with my burpees doesn't mean that I completely lost my motivation for exercising. I still remember how it felt to know I was getting stronger. Seeing progress is so rewarding.

Persistence and endurance are crucial to strength.

It's vital to not give up.

Never give up.

It's so worth it.

:)

The One With Senior Pictures

This is my wonderful house dress. Yes, you read that right. This dress has houses printed all over it.   I love it.

I miss Summer sunshine

Sailboat!

A Tale of Two Sweaters

I'm not a huge cut-out cookie person.

I love eating them...

...but making them? Not so much.

However, I am a sweater person. Mom recently bought me an ice skating sweater similar to the one Grace (as she loves to remind us) won an 'Ugly Sweater Contest' with last year.

So, of course the first thing we had to do....

Was bake up some 'Ugly Sweater Cookies'. Obviously.

I have a love/hate relationship with making frosting. I always end up pouring what feels like the whole bag of powdered sugar in and the frosting still manages to be too watery (and over-poweringly sweet). This time, however, I got the stamp of approval from the Official Beater Lickers.

I decided cookie decorating was reason enough to break my 'no Elf music before December 1st' rule. 

For the record, I personally don't believe that there actually is such a thing as an ugly sweater.

....But I will maybe make an exception for these cookies....

Despite how they looked, they still tasted pretty good. ;)

Change and Acceptance

I don't like phone calls. E-mails, texts, and Facebook messages are wonderful. With social media, you know who you're contacting and you don't need to worry about the awkward 'Hi..uhm...yeah..is this Mr. So-and-so?'. When a message is written out, it's possible to go back and change something. Once something is said on the phone, no matter how mortifying, is permanently said.

Today, with much encouragement from my mom, I called an actual business to ask questions about their facility.

I didn't want to do it.

It was terrifying.

I definitely sounded like a dork at times.

But *such* a relief after I finally did it.

I don't have my future planned out. I don't know what college I'm going to. I don't know if I'll stay home for a year or two and work before going to college. I don't know if I'll even go to college.

But these things are coming up. Really fast.

I got an acceptance letter in the mail today and that made everything seem real. I have to make decisions. I have to push my intorvertedness aside and make scary phone calls. I have to make little decisions that will lead to bigger decisions. And that's scary.

What I really want to do is curl up in a blanket and watch the snow fall (I mean, snow is beautiful! People who complain about snow in November are crazy. Snow before Christmas is good. Snow after January can get annoying) with a mug of hot chocolate. I don't like the idea of doing 'big kid' things. I don't like the idea of change. The idea of going off to a different part of the state for a whole school year and do everything differently - everything that I've been used to for the past 17 years. This is going to be a year of lasts.

I don't want to leave my family or friends.

It sounds terrifying.

I will look like a dork at times.

But it's going to be *such* a relief when I embrace the change.

It's going to be a new part of my life. And it's going to be scary. But it's also going to be exciting.

Senioryearitis

I have yet to figure out the perfect balance between 'too busy' and 'doing nothing'. 

If I have something scheduled everyday I get over-stressed. If I go more than a day without having an activity my extroverted-ness kicks in and I crave busy-ness.

This year Senioryearitis kicked in.

This is my last chance! I better do everything I can!

Two months later I've participated in my first community theatre production and am currently going to practices three times a week for my second. Robin Hood practices, dance class, acting class, teaching Sunday School, finding venues for the homeschool prom, and, of course, school-work fill up a majority of my time.

I'm not as busy as some people, but for me, I'm busy. I'm starting to like it more, though. I like the sense of accomplishment. I like making the most of my time.

Being gone in the evenings makes me appreciate nights with peanut butter mug cakes and Princess Diaries 2 with my little sister all the more. ;)

On a side note - The other day I went with my little sister to an audition for The Wizard of Oz at our local middle school. Despite the fact that I am a senior in high school and therefore at least four years older than some of the other girls auditioning, I felt intimidated by them. Seriously. They had a more mature sense of fashion than I do. I'm all about t-shirts and jeans. These middle school girls had top-buns, skinny jeans, fashion scarves, and iPhones. It was ridiculous.