Dustin Hoffman - Tootsie and Self Image

I will put it out there that I've never seen the film Tootsie, but after being pointed in the direction of the below link by This is My Body Project (who do great work on promoting positive body image) it is now firmly on my "To Watch" list.

http://www.upworthy.com/dustin-hoffman-breaks-down-crying-explaining-something-that-every-woman-sadly-already-experienced-3?g=2

In this interview, Hoffman speaks frankly about the need to look like a "proper" woman, not a man in drag or overtly strange, or noteworthy in any way.  He also speaks openly of his disappointment when he was shown the finished product, when he realised that he didn't look anything like what society had instilled in him as the image of a "beautiful woman" and was told there was nothing that could be done about it.

Dustin's reaction to his realisation that this feeling of disappointment, sadness, and unworthiness was something that most women tend to go through on a daily basis, is what made me want to give this man the biggest hug EVER.  I cannot put this in to words, but the link shows it all.

We are ALL beautiful, interesting, fabulous wo(men) in our own right, no matter what shell we reside in.  It's about time we, and society, started believing that.  I hope that more people (not just men!) come to the same conclusion that Dustin did, that

ALL people are created INTERESTING!

Dustin, I salute you!

ST x

Now go and tell yourself you're AWESOME!

Self Love and Shorts

We went out for a meal yesterday for a friend's birthday, and I finally managed to pluck up the courage to wear my new High Waisted Shorts (Next, second-hand courtesy of flea-bay).  My aim with these is to go a bit Monroe-esque, and the next stage will be some suitably retro/vintage (still not sure on the terminology!) tops.

Now, even though the weather was warm and the sun was shining, I still felt unsure as to whether I should even wear this outfit considering the amount of flesh on show - so I stuck the pic on Twitter and FB as you do (hehehe, nothing like a bit of self-validation is there!) and luckily all the responses were positive.  

However!  This particular response from a friend stunned me completely;

"I know everyone is saying congratulations on looking so thin and you look amazing now... But. When did you not look amazing?"

And you know what!?  He's SO right!  Why am I any less or any more amazing than when I was big, eh?!  The fact is, I'm not any more amazing now than I was a few years ago - I am now, and was then, all sorts of awesomeness.

My advice - tell yourself YOU ARE AWESOME as many times a day as you can.  Be positive, and be 100% convincing when you say it... it won't be long before you start to believe it!

ST

x

Food Love, Body Love

OK, so I went to Pilates (hey, I'm not on a health kick, and I'm not on a diet, but I'm still a healthy girl, mkay!?) and once again, whenever we stop behind to talk to our instructor, we always end up on one of 2 topics.

1/  Food, which always entails the bloody C word (Calories) or Health content.

2/ Figures - no, not the numbers (I'm not Sheldon from Big Bang here!).

Now in terms of the food - BRILLIANT, I absolutely love this topic; especially when it swings around to my favourite Thai Restaurant (Totally Thai in Warwick) but then, then it always seems to get ruined when it sidelines into the "oh yes, Thai food is much better for you than [insert alternative here]" - I swear, my brain all but switches off at this point!  Who cares?! If it's tasty, eat it, and love it for what it is!

Topic number 2?  Well, really!  After one Pilates session, the topic of figure came up (again) and someone said "well let's face it, no one is ever happy with their figure are they?".  Actually, YES! Jeez, even when I was fat I never had as many hang-ups about my body as these people seem to have (and yes, I managed to get up to a size 18, which at 5ft nothing is quite a hefty weight to be lugging around).  But one thing I learnt as I lost it, is that you only have 1 body (well at least until they perfect brain/personality transplants) and that body deserves to be looked after, well respected, but most of all LOVED no matter what shape or size you happen to be.

If you spend all your time looking for faults, and listing the bad points, you're never going to be happy with anything, and this goes for both your body, and the things you choose to feed it with.  Case in point, the quotes for both 1 & 2 were courtesy of the same woman who is a size 8-10, and has a figure most people of any age would be very proud of!

Enjoy your body, enjoy food, but most of all, ENJOY LIFE.