I’ve been reading a lot of articles on celebrity photoshopped images lately and it saddens me to pieces.
Really. I feel so much for my fellow women because living in this generation can be tough.
I was inspired by this particular article and the brave girl who wrote it (who deserves some recognition for her work, btw) I thought of taking a peek at the Buzzfeed comment section to see what words of wisdom and inspirational thoughts my fellow ladies had to add.
To my surprise, there weren't many at all.
Then there's...
UHHH, wait. What?
I thought this article was completely life changing! The author probably didn’t realize she had reached a deeper issue here, a dilemma that hits close to home with millions of young women today - the pressure to be picture perfect.
We all want a skinny tummy (I know I do, I want that toned ab line!) and we all show off our gym selfies (if you didn't selfie, were you really there?).
But something I would never do is go as far as photoshopping my waist line to make it look better.
Think about it, do you ever really want to be that girl that doesn’t look the same in person!?
Yeah, I thought so.
Trust, I use editing apps too. I’ve felt the pressure to fix minor blemishes here and there. I have the worst under eye bags that I’ve touched up before. Then, I would get caught up in what I was actually doing. I would reset the image back to the original and tell myself, “Hey, this is really me,” or begin to really look at it and notice that it truthfully doesn't look that different when I focused on it less.
It wasn't so much that I accepted these flaws completely (I still love to hate them), but I only allowed myself to think good things about the picture of me that I was posting - I changed my attitude.
With Instagram and many other public social platforms, it’s so easy to be known just by having a pretty face or the one with the perfect body all with having those likes pile up when in reality, these likers and commenters don't even know the real you.
I think as women, we need to be embracing our own unique beauty. We can't continue to allow ourselves to be held upon any beauty standards because we are meant to be different. At the end of the day, crafting our own pictures and our representation of ourselves doesn't allow someone to get to know the real you.
I'm not saying that celebrities are the target to blame for this ideal or that I am anti photo editing apps but If celebrities are facing the pressure then think of all the millions of other women that do as well.
Ladies, it's important to take the focus on being more positive to and about bodies. Living for likes will result in a very, very sad life. You are NOT defined by your number of likes.
It’s time to take a step back. Be a bit more real with your photos - with yourself. Truth is, if we feed our mind on having a positive focus on our bodies, we will begin to feel and look the part as well.
It's an important step in becoming comfortable in your own skin.
xo A
Real beauty is quiet. Especially in this town, it's just so hard not to say, 'Oh, I need to look like that,' " she explains. "No, be a good person, be a good mom, do a good job with the lunch, let someone cut in front of you who looks like they're in a bigger hurry. The people I find most beautiful are the ones who aren't trying.
Sandra Bullock, named People's 2015 World's Most Beautiful Woman