I was surprised recently by how many of my friends still hold on to painful memories of childhood teasing. They find it hard to love who they are because when growing up people made fun of their appearance. My good friend Sharon told me about her primary five experience. She was teased about having a long neck and now she always wears scarves to hide it. Tatiana who has been my friend from high school still wears oversize clothes because she was teased about being fat. Magazines keep us knowledgeable about what is in right now. This day’s many movies showcase the magnificence in plastic surgeries. Cat walks across the world show thinner and thinner models. Dieting strategies are flashed across all magazines and this makes us start noticing what we are not. Teenage hood is probably the most beautiful stage of one’s life however not every change that occurs here is as welcome. As your body changes one can either embrace the change or start hating what they are developing to become. When you talk teens, more than half would choose a different body. Teens are willing to try anything--medications, diets, surgery—whatever it takes to look like what your friends or the media thinks you should look like. Why is it that so many of us hate our bodies? Well some of us have been teased about it others just believe that they have nothing good when they look in the mirror. We feel like life would be better if we had better legs, fuller busts, and longer hair. We have low self esteem about who we are because of what we have heard. If you don’t love yourself it’s hard to develop good relationships with other people. There is no perfect or imperfect body. We are all perfect in our own ways. We are all created to be different and that doesn’t make any of us better than others. Slim, plump all this are body types and they are perfect in their own ways. We are more than what we look like. We have inner beauty that we need to portray too. Looking good has to start with you feeling good and fulfilled in the inner part of you. Sometimes hating the body results from being teased as a child but we all have a responsibility of growing out of it. Learning to love what we are. People can love you but unless you appreciate what you are you will always have issues with your self image. So the next time you are in front of the mirror look straight up to it and meet the gorgeous you, because you are beautiful and a gift to your parents and all the people in your life. See the inner you always and learn to love you. You are gorgeous, beautiful, perfect and uniquely so. There is only one of you in the world and that’s a blessing. Ends
