Sunday, October 25, 2009

Back Away From The Scalpel.


Is it just me or are women more unhappy with themselves these days?  I don't know if I encounter it more often because I'm in La La Land and working in showbiz, or if it's like this EVERYWHERE, but if I have to hear one more woman talk about needing plastic surgery, how something about her body is inherently wrong, or lying about her age, I might have to take to my bed for awhile.  I just can't.

What is this foolishness??  And is it just me or is it getting worse?  As we have more options (i.e. products and procedures), we seem to feel like we have to take advantage of them (which makes advertisers & manufacturers happy) But are we really taking advantage of them, or are they taking advantage of us?  And this obsession with "looking younger" - why is that even desirable?  At 37, I'm never going to look 22 again - I'm only going to look like I'm TRYING to look like I'm 22, which is far worse than just being the best 37 I can be!  I do understand how caring for ourselves can keep us healthy and lift our spirits, but why are we trying to look younger when even the youngest among us are getting older?  How about just looking like our best selves?  Can't we do that?  Or do we have to ask permission?  (Lots of questions, I know.)

If you really need to lose weight for health reasons, I'm all for it (healthily), but losing 8 pounds so you can fit into a pair of skinny jeans that weren't designed for your body type anyway is crazy.  Same for getting a breast augmentation because (insert celebrity name here) got one.  Really?  You're getting surgery to look like someone else who has also had surgery?  You're going to let someone cut your nose open or let someone inject a foreign substance into your lips so you can look like what's considered "hot" today?  Really?  Okay, so what happens tomorrow?  You know something new is added to the beauty "to do" list at periodic intervals, right?  Yup.  Just enough to keep us off-kilter and never quite 'right.'

I'm watching this insanity play out all around me, and I feel like the child in the story "The Emperor's New Clothes."  (Anybody else feel me??)

Yes, the pressure to be a certain way goes up in certain situations- being in the entertainment industry is one of those pressure-cookers, but I think it's a universal truth that if we don't take the time and effort to ground ourselves and determine our worth for ourselves, all too many people are willing to determine our worth for us, and it will be to their advantage - not ours.

There is freedom in being our best, beautiful selves, but we have to be sure to define the constitution of beauty for ourselves or we end up not being able to move our foreheads.  And I don't care what anybody says, that is not right.

--Nicole

"To deny your age is to deny that you have survived." --Maya Angelou

2 comments:

  1. I'm sooo with you! Why do they all wanna look the same?! And it's NOT EVEN beautiful! Do they not have mirrors at home? Lips like a rubber boat or breasts like basketballs DO NOT look sexy, pretty, beautiful or stunning at all, can't they see that?
    So, I try to be my best self. Yeah, I know, I'm too skinny, but I always have been. That's me. Yeah, my nose has too different sides. Does it matter? I could go on with every detail of my body, like EVERY woman could do so. It doesn't matter what size you wear or how fat or skinny you are. It's all about self-worth. And that's what I'm working on every day.
    For me, attractiveness and beauty come from inside. You can only glow, when you're your best you. And by the way, to get the point to your yesterdays post: you definitely have that glow, girl:-) So, keep on rocking and glowing and blow them away!

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  2. You speak so much truth! And I couldn't agree more with you

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