Unity Against Negative Body Image

Today I saw Colbie Caillat’s new video Try. A few of my friends had shared an article about it and it made me realise that everyday I am seeing more and more people doing something to actively make a change. Instead of feeling like the minority trying to fight medias negative visuals I feel like so many girls are finally coming on board and realising that this is something we can change.

I feel so happy to see my friends sharing these inspirational stories and videos. Us girls need to stick together and help each other. Most importantly be accepting of each other no matter what we look like and realising we all have flaws and those flaws are different for each and every one of us.

So in Colbie’s video she is taking a stance against photoshop, showing women (different ages and sizes) and herself in full make-up & hair all done. Then reveals them removing all the make-up and extra hair showing them as they naturally are. Naturally beautiful. I totally felt emotional when I first watched it, watching these beautiful normal women sing along to the song ::

Take your make-up off
Let your hair down
Take a breath
Look into the mirror, at yourself
Don’t you like you?
Cause I like you

 

 

Another song which asks a similar question is Beyonce’s Pretty Hurts. The video shows the harsh reality of Pageant life in the USA..girls fighting, diet pills and eating cotton wool to be skinny 😦 yuck.  The final verse of the song has to be my favourite ::

When you’re alone all by yourself
And you’re lying in your bed
Reflection stares right into you
Are you happy with yourself?
You stripped away the masquerade
The illusion has been shed
Are you happy with yourself?
Are you happy with yourself?

It’s the big question of life. And if you answer it with a No. Don’t feel bad, there is nothing wrong with that, there is nothing wrong with you – everyone is at different stages in their life. But you now know that is something you need to sort out. Take time out to get to know yourself and love yourself. Because if you are not comfortable in your skin and ashamed of who you are/what you look like life is hard!! And it doesn’t need to be.

I think people feel embarrassed to openly say – I love me. I think I’m awesome. I can say that and maybe people think I’m super arrogant…but I don’t care what they think. What I think about myself is the most important.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not super-confident 24/7! I have my moments – it’s called being human. When you know who you are, your goals, your morals…life becomes that bit easier.

Bey is asked a question in the video ‘What is your aspiration in life?’ and answers ‘to be happy.’ That’s the goal. It’s not to be rich, to have a great job. To be happy with yourself and everything is more likely to fall into place.

Finally another campaign that caught my eye recently is the #LikeAGirl campaign by Always. Check out the video below ::

This video reminds me that young girls have so many more challenges facing them growing up than I did. Social media sites – from Facebook to Instagram are full of friends posting pictures and commenting about how they look. All this can lead to self-conscious girls who grow up with little confidence therefore affecting what they end up studying at University, what job they get. It has a long-term affect. I would love to see new classes being introduced at High School level. Not confidence classes, but something along that line. It’s a tough subject to create a class around but I think it would be revolutionary! It would be something I would definitely like to be involved in. Keep an eye out 😉

Well that’s my thoughts from today. Check the pic out below – 5 steps to be more confident!

Tomorrow is a new day…

Lots of Love xoxo

(if you liked this check out my other blogs on Body Confidence)