Yesterday I was looking through some old files and I found my first business plan from 2009! That seems like eons ago. I was reading the pages of statistics that I had heavily researched about body image disorders and the obesity epidemic that have plagued the US and many other parts of the world.
It made me sad to read these statistics today, (below is a small handful of them)…knowing that so much of this is still true, in fact, it may be worse. I was more anxious to deliver this than I was to fact check everything but one thing we know is Mattel got smart and is now making Barbie in different sizes. And call me “a cynic” but I really believe that decision was based on profits than it is caring for young girls and their body image. It does feel like we have gotten farther from solutions in some ways.
Did You Know…
♥ That if shop mannequins were real women, they’d be too thin to menstruate?
♥ There are 3 billion women who DON’T look like super-models and only 8 who do. (And who do we compare ourselves to? (Hint! MODELS)
♥ Marilyn Monroe wore a size 14.
♥ Models 20 years ago weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today they weigh 23% less than the average woman.
♥ If Barbie was a real woman, she’d have to walk on all fours due to her proportions.
♥ The average woman weighs 144 lbs. and wears between a size 12-14.
♥ One out of 4 college aged women has an eating disorder.
♥ In one U.S. National survey, women feared being fat more than dying.
♥ It is estimated that 40-50% of American women are trying to lose weight at any point in time.
♥ Americans spend more than 50 billion dollars a year on dieting and diet-related products.
That’s roughly equivalent to the amount the U.S. Federal Government spends on education each year.
To be honest, as I was sitting down reading the pages of stats, my inner critic showed up and… I had to look at myself in the mirror and say, “Laura, I know you are part of the solution but what have you actually done to make this better?”
The warrior in me knows that if one life is changed the world is changed and I know my work as a body image/weight release coach has impacted more than one life through the years.
What do I do?
I keep going.
When people say,
I don’t get you Laura! Do you want me to lose weight? Or like my body?
I want YOU to love your body and make peace with it and lose the weight because you care about your health, not so you can impress people. I believe external validation is important and motivating and it is my experience that it will not sustain you as you age. You will find ease with losing weight as you lay down a healthy foundation.
I keep going when people say,
Well this is easy for you, because you’ve already done it and I could never be where you are.
That is JUST A LIE! SO NOT TRUE! I AM NOT MORE SPECIAL THAN ANYONE. Getting to where I am required, sweat and tears and the only difference perhaps is that I was ready…and when I hit bottom, I was willing to be with the sweat and tears. I learned how to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and I teach people how to do that. And they have to be ready. That I cannot force on anyone.
I keep going when people say,
You make me really uncomfortable, I really don’t want to do what you are asking me to do.
Yesterday, I heard 3 different people say this including Lady Gaga. Gaga and the other 2 women said, if you are not making people uncomfortable, then you are not doing your job! I get it.
It is not in my nature to make you feel bad or make you mad, or uncomfortable, however, if we are going to change ourselves, we will have to be uncomfortable.
I keep going when people say,
I don’t trust a women who is thin and attractive to tell me that I need to love my body from the inside – out –
This actually makes me weep as I write this down, weep with pain for all the judgement and criticism that lives on this planet.
We judge people on the outside and we have no idea who they really are. (Not even Kim Kardashian – who I judge and then have to call myself out for that behavior and clean it up)
Please do not judge me until you get to know me. And then after that, you don’t have to like me, but none of us are really here to judge each other.
I am here to love and spread light and how you perceive that is up to you.
I keep going. Giving up is the easy way out. And where does it get any of us?
Like my shero Gloria Steinem said to Oprah. “I have so much work to do. I feel like I am just getting started.” In her case, she has been at it for 60 years +.
Like, Gloria, I keep going.
I suggest you say YES to yourself and choose to keep going. And if you want to talk and keep going, just click here.
Keep it coming.. love your thoughts,,,