Why Can't I Look Like a Runway Model?

It seems people will spend their entire life trying to conform to a model appearance and the result isn’t as expected no matter how many treatments or diets they’ve tried.  Media is our biggest impact of trying to show us how we should look and act.  Magazines are filled with diets that claim to allow you to lose 10lbs in 10 days, get glowing skin, or look five years younger! It feels as though none of these magazines take time to focus on natural beauty or how to look healthy and right for your body without changing you!  You can want to change yourself, and that is normal, but be sure that the changes are healthy and positive.  Healthy changes take time – don’t forget that!

When you check out the most recent issues of popular magazines or see ads pop up on the side of your browsing page, rather than think how you need to change, ask yourself “what is wrong with this ad?”  If you’ve never noticed, there is typically small print under the ad that read “results not typical.”  Don’t conform to the ideas of anyone on how you should physically change because you are beautiful in your own way and the world wouldn’t be the same without you!

In April of 2011, Galia Slayen, a student from Oregon, suffered from an eating disorder in high school.  She decided she wanted to take a stand against anorexia and show that she was stronger than what was trying to bring her down!  With a Barbie look-alike that she constructed herself, she appeared on the Today Show, explaining to young girls that real girls are perfectly imperfect.  She showed that a Barbie to scale would be around 5 feet 9 inches in height, have a 36-inch bust, an 18-inch waist, and 33-inch hips.  The ending result wasn’t very physically pretty and not a realistic role model for young growing girls!

“Love yourself. It's more than having confidence, it is knowing deep inside yourself that you are unique. Accepting yourself means that you love yourself for the way you are right at that moment. It doesn't mean that you stop making improvements to yourself. It just means that you don't have to change to be lovable and good enough.”  ~ Justice Cabral quotes

“Once you’ve accepted your flaws no one can use them against you.” ~ Unknown