I was catching up on some blog reading. I only do so once every few weeks, I'm a binge-blogger like that. I came across an interesting blog post on Paganism and body image. Now, I'm not a Pagan, I'd call myself New Age Pantheist, but I think there is a huge connection with all us brothers and sisters driven by spirituality rather than a secular religion. So what this woman had to say about Paganism and body image is a very popular opinion amongst women, pagans and just anybody. When reading posts like these, it makes me look at myself and acknowledge how much I differ from other spiritual siblings.
We all suffer from the same thing; body image. Rather you've always had a great body or always struggled with weight or somewhere in between. We are constantly thinking about our body and how others perceive it. I'm gonna be sexist and say this is much more so for women. Men are visual creatures, therefore us women have developed the mindset to always be visually pleasing. Whether your culture finds long necks, big butts, no boobs beautiful. That's your culture and we as women pursue it.
So that's where I start to differ from this new norm. People say being thin and beautiful is the norm, but everywhere I look, I see only protests against it. There's a new mentality that it's some sort of sin to want to be and actual achieve their culture's idea of beauty. It's not. To me, it comes down to taking care of yourself and what you prioritize in life. Being happy does not always mean being out of shape. It's so common for girls to say "Look at that beautiful girl, I bet she's so miserable." It's quite the opposite. I think those who say it are the miserable ones. Those who look great will feel great- if that's their priority in life. It it wasn't, then they wouldn't be looking so good. Nothing blossoms unless you put effort into it.
So to me, whether you're skinny or not, it's just about doing what you want. If you're not interested in looking like the girls on TV, that's 100% okay. But don't expect a medal or insult the women who do. They're doing their thing and you're doing yours. It's all about making your soul happy, not others. So while I agree with the blog posts that tells overweight women to be happy, I also say that for any other type of woman. It's no sin to blend in or stand out. If you're happy and harming no one, go for it!
The issue with society these days isn't about people telling us one thing is beautiful and the other is not- Oh no, society these days tells us if we don't like something, we have a right to make others feel guilty or ignorant for delving in it.
We all suffer from the same thing; body image. Rather you've always had a great body or always struggled with weight or somewhere in between. We are constantly thinking about our body and how others perceive it. I'm gonna be sexist and say this is much more so for women. Men are visual creatures, therefore us women have developed the mindset to always be visually pleasing. Whether your culture finds long necks, big butts, no boobs beautiful. That's your culture and we as women pursue it.
So that's where I start to differ from this new norm. People say being thin and beautiful is the norm, but everywhere I look, I see only protests against it. There's a new mentality that it's some sort of sin to want to be and actual achieve their culture's idea of beauty. It's not. To me, it comes down to taking care of yourself and what you prioritize in life. Being happy does not always mean being out of shape. It's so common for girls to say "Look at that beautiful girl, I bet she's so miserable." It's quite the opposite. I think those who say it are the miserable ones. Those who look great will feel great- if that's their priority in life. It it wasn't, then they wouldn't be looking so good. Nothing blossoms unless you put effort into it.
So to me, whether you're skinny or not, it's just about doing what you want. If you're not interested in looking like the girls on TV, that's 100% okay. But don't expect a medal or insult the women who do. They're doing their thing and you're doing yours. It's all about making your soul happy, not others. So while I agree with the blog posts that tells overweight women to be happy, I also say that for any other type of woman. It's no sin to blend in or stand out. If you're happy and harming no one, go for it!
The issue with society these days isn't about people telling us one thing is beautiful and the other is not- Oh no, society these days tells us if we don't like something, we have a right to make others feel guilty or ignorant for delving in it.
