dear mothers

Dear mothers,

You might say I have no right to claim what I’m about to claim, to admonish what I’m about to admonish. You might say that, because I don’t yet have children of my own, I have no right to request what I’m about to request. But I think it’s because I’m still only a daughter and not a mother that I can plainly see this problem.

Mothers, your daughters are listening to you, watching you. When you grimace at your reflection in the mirror, when you bitterly reminisce about how much you weighed in your 20s, your daughters see and hear you. Not only do they see and hear, but they internalize. Without realizing it, they begin to think the same, even from a young age. Without realizing it, you are perpetuating a lifetime of self-destructive thinking.

And it’s not just your daughters who hear and see this behavior. You must think of yourselves as potential mentors to every young woman, because we are always listening and watching your example. When you are constantly stuck in the past, it subconsciously makes us fearful about the future! Conversely, when you are content with your life and can value your own beauty, we have proof that it’s possible to age with self-respect, that we can be proud of our lives when we’re a little older, even if we have a few wrinkles and can’t wear size 6 pants anymore. When you show us dignity, we internalize that, too.

Despite how you see yourselves, I see you as well-versed, amazing women who have done much, seen much. I see women who should be praised for their accomplishments. The lines around your eyes tell me you’ve smiled heartily during your life. Your stretch marks tell me your body has been through feats of strength and difficulty. I respect you for the things you’ve achieved; I don’t judge you. Why do you so harshly judge yourselves?

You deserve the love you can give to yourself. But if you don’t do it for yourself, at least consider your daughters, and all the other women who learn from your example.

There are two cycles. Please work to extinguish the cycle of self-deprecation and build instead a cycle of pride. The way you treat yourselves teaches me to do the same.

(This post is dedicated to Marjorie Smith, my grandmother, who lives a fearless and boisterous life.)

reasons

I’m just over ²/₃ of the way through my 5k training. For 12 weeks I’ve been slowly improving. When I began, I was alternating 1 minute of jogging and 1-1/2 minutes of walking. I thought for sure in those first few weeks that there was just no way I’d ever get to the place where I could jog an entire 5k.

Tomorrow morning when I wake up, I’m going to get dressed, lace up my sneakers, and jog for 25 minutes straight. To athletes out there and to people who have been fit at some point in their lives, this might not sound like much of an accomplishment, but as trite as it sounds, thinking about it almost brings me to tears. It feels very surreal when I get done with my run. Sometimes I just laugh out loud, into the quiet of the morning, with no one else around to hear, because it seems so unlikely that it could be possible! I jogged for 25 minutes! Unreal!

Please believe me when I commit to you that if I can do this, you can do this! Start small. Work your way through. Make sure someone is there to hold you accountable. But most of all, have at least one good reason to change your life, because in those moments when your quads are cramping, your ankle hurts, you’re out of breath, and you feel like you can’t take another step, you have got to have a reason to keep going, a reason to push through.

Honestly, before I started training, I didn’t put much thought into my reasons. But what I’ve noticed is, in those moments when I want to quit, my mind automatically wanders to those reasons. Here are a few of mine:

1. To motivate others. If you know me personally, you know that being a good example to other people is important to me. I have always desired to be someone that people can look up to and can learn from. If I’m not taking care of myself, how can I expect others to take care of themselves?
2. To build confidence. Visibly, my body hasn’t changed much. The most notable change so far is that my calves are really muscular now! But my shirts and pants don’t feel any looser. I don’t really look that different. But I feel so different. When I look in the mirror, I see a beautiful woman, a strong woman who is capable and powerful. When you respect yourself enough to take care of yourself, your eyes are opened to your strength, which is one of your most stunning attributes!
3. To prevent health issues in the future. It is no secret that I have a blood clotting disorder. I have seen the damage this condition has done in my own immediate family, and I never want to repeat these problems in my own life. My future and the future of my family depends upon my health, so I mean to take control of it.
4. To be the best I can be for my husband. A lot of people say that you “let yourself go” when you get into a serious relationship. To an extent, that is true—you become very comfortable around your mate, which can be a wonderful thing. But if I can’t take care of myself for my husband, my lifelong partner, for whom can I? It’s not just about looking my best, either, although I would be lying if I said that isn’t a bonus. It’s about being an inspiration to the person who inspires me. Part of our responsibility and privilege to each other is to push one another to live well.
5. To prove to myself that I can do it! I was never in sports. I’m the kid who tripped on the kickball and got the wind knocked out of her. I’m the kid who hung helplessly on the rope, unable to move up, while the gym teacher yelled at her to climb. I’m the kid who gave up after one sprint across the basketball court, and probably faked an injury just to be done for the day. I have built this wall of impossibility around myself through all of these experiences over the course of my life, and I realize that I am the only person who can tear those walls down.

And tear them down I will!

realistic inspiration

First things first, an update on my progress: I’ve finished 2 weeks of my 18-week training plan. Every two weeks, the walk/jog workout increases in intensity. The last workout of the first two weeks felt really great—I eased right through it and didn’t feel too fatigued at all, so I think the plan is just the right pace. We’ll see when I start the next intensity next week. Honestly I’m a little nervous that it’s going to be too hard, but I have to remind myself that on Day 1 that’s how I felt, and two weeks later that same workout was easy for me! One day at a time!

Now I want to talk about expectations.

The other day I went to Pinterest to find some inspiring quotes and images to help keep me motivated as I go through this 18-week process. I searched for “fitness inspiration.” Here are a couple of the many not inspiring images that came up:

 <— Girl 1.

Problems: This girl is a model—therefore she is undoubtedly airbrushed. (Trust me on this—I’ve done many a paper on the subject of the portrayal of women in media. Those legs have been painted!) Also, most of us will never be that skinny. Her frame is just small. Also, her legs look stronger than they really are because she’s standing on her tiptoes.

 

<—Girl 2.

Problems: Again, genetics play a big part here. I could never look like this as my ribcage is much larger than this lady’s. Also airbrushed. This woman is a celebrity—it is her job to look her best. Do you have a full time job? Is it to work out all day? Do you have a personal chef and a personal trainer and spend your entire day working on how you look? No? Then you cannot look like this woman.

 

There are so, so many images like this floating around as “inspiration,” on Pinterest and other places. I’m not really sure why we women (sorry, guys!) feel like we have to look like these people to be fit! It’s ridiculous, but even more so, it’s sad. We have to have realistic expectations about ourselves and about the potential of our own bodies.

I don’t mean to make this sound like, no matter what level of health you’re at right now, you’re not capable of being fit—every body has the potential to be lean and strong. But your “fit” will look different than my “fit,” and most of our “fits” will never look like the ones in the above images.

While you may not be an airbrushed model who works out eight hours a day, you are beautiful. You have the ability to be healthy and feel better.

And if you need some motivation, maybe these images will work a little better:

Now get out there and find out what your body can do! :)

realism & optimism

It is good to have ambitions about your body. It is good to want to build muscle and be stronger. It is good to want to tone up and lose some fat. It is good to want to eat healthy and feel better. Honestly, it’s good to want to make the body you’re given as fit as it can be. What is not good is having unrealistic expectations about yourself.

There are some things you can’t change about your body. For instance, I will never be pencil-thin. I carry my weight in my hips and even if I only weighed 100 pounds (which would look sickening, by the way), I would still be shaped like a pear. I have a prominent nose and it’s not going anywhere. Some men are naturally thin. Some women have thicker legs than others. Some people have knobbly knees and bony shoulders.

Some people look at others (particularly celebrities) and yearn to look just like them. But you know, I will never look like Keira Knightley. Nor will I ever have a bust as big as Kim Kardashian’s. But I can eat better, exercise more, look better, and feel better because of the choices that I make about myself. I can hone the body I have into its most beautiful state without being worried about comparing it to someone else’s.

It’s okay to want to improve—it’s not okay to want to be someone you not only aren’t, but can’t be.

Be the best you possible.

image by klaireebearr on Flickr

mirror

Don’t ever trust Mirror. I have found that Mirror is pretty much a consistent liar, and honestly, who wants to listen to a liar?

I know Mirror is a chronic liar because on Wednesday when I was getting ready for work, Mirror told me my hair looked awful. She said it was frizzy and wasn’t curling in the right places. Needless to say this was pretty disheartening, but I had an early meeting so I didn’t have time to mess with it. I just ignored Mirror and went to work anyway.

Throughout the day, people kept commenting on my hair. “Your hair looks different today…I like it.” “I love the way your hair is curling today, kind of wavy.” “Your hair looks nice today.” All the while I’m thinking, Mirror said my hair looked bad! What is going on here?

And then I went to talk to a friend of mine, and noticed that her hair looked awfully cute, and I told her so. You know what she said? “Really? I think it doesn’t look too great today.” This is when I realized…Mirror is a liar. If Mirror had told the truth, my friend would have realized how adorable her hair was on Wednesday.

Have you ever tried to convince a friend that her hair looks fine, her shirt doesn’t make her look fat, or those shoes don’t make her look stumpy? It’s a really hard battle to wage considering your friend’s Mirror pretty much yelled at her, degraded her, and made her feel terrible.

But the honest truth is, as we all know, mirrors aren’t the ones lying to us. We are the ones looking out at ourselves, and we are the ones that are so critical. More important than the fact that your hair must look fine because your friend said so is the fact that we are too hard on ourselves. We’re the ones who are judgmental.

Let’s see the beauty in the mirror today. Let’s rewrite the way we see ourselves.

-

photo (Between Our Equilibriums Are Positive/Negative Mirrors) by DerrickT via Flickr

this is me

This is me. I chose this picture very specifically for this post. I’m not wearing make-up, my hair isn’t done, I’m not really posing for the camera trying to look my best, and, most importantly, this is a profile picture, and I much prefer a straight-on shot of me than a profile pic. We’ll get into why in another post, but I wanted to go ahead and post a picture of myself that isn’t my best picture, if nothing else to show you that I mean to be transparent here. I want anyone who reads this to understand that you aren’t the only person who feels the way you do about your body. It’s very important that all of us get it—it is normal to have these struggles and feelings of inadequacy. But what isn’t normal is letting those struggles and feelings run your life. See that it might not be the best photo of you and move on. A photo only shows people your visual aspects, and those aren’t the most important, despite what our world might be telling us.

I also wanted to post a photo of myself to show you that it isn’t just certain types of people who feel insecure. I’m a relatively average girl. I am overweight but not by too much (according to health standards, mind you!). I have relatively clear skin, small ears, a nose that curves out, uneven toes, unruly hair, dark under-eye circles, and very peely finger nails. Why is all this important? Because I have to live in this skin, with these bones. This is me, and I have to improve myself as much as I can to live healthily and happily, but I have to accept the things I can’t change.

And so do you.

the antivanity 101

“Seeking health & happiness in a world demanding flawlessness.” 

I have always felt very passionate about the issues of self-esteem, media, body image, societal expectations, and health vs. superficial beauty. This is probably because I struggle with all of these myself. Please don’t anticipate that I have it all figured out. I struggle particularly with confidence among other things. But we all do. All of us have felt like we’re too tall or too short or our boobs are too big or too small or our feet look funny or we have weird knees.

Here on The Antivanity I’m going to write about my own struggles with self-esteem and body image, about how to try to combat those negative feelings we have about ourselves, and especially about prioritizing health over looks (something I notice almost 100% of women grappling with in my daily life). I’m no expert, but I’m right in the thick of it…

just like you.