How to Change the World

I’ve been writing a lot recently about society’s new vision of what the perfect female body is.  I’ve written about the necessary requirements, the constant struggle to keep perfecting, and how much the “ideal” female body has changed over and over through the centuries.  When I applied to be a blogger for the Daily Hiit I told Freddy that I was just a normal woman, a mother and a wife, and I wanted to help the other moms in the Daily Hiit community and also to do something to change the way women view themselves.  In short, I want to make a difference, to change the world.  On my last post a woman commented that she loved the post and even teared up reading it because it had touched her so deeply.  And that, that right there is what makes it all worthwhile. Then I ran across the quote above and for ten minutes I just sat and looked at it...mulling it over in my head.  At first I thought, ‘What businesses would go out of business?’  Then I began to think... ‘What would it take for every woman to wake up and be comfortable in her own skin?  What would that even look like?’  You know what it takes?  I’ll tell you.

1. It starts with YOU.  Yes you.  Right there.  Reading this on your computer, your tablet, your phone.  You are beautiful.  You are worth something and it has nothing to do with what you look like!  Society does not deem your worth based on an ever changing list of rules.  When you look in the mirror focus on what you are doing to make yourself better than the person you were yesterday.  And smile.  That’s the most beautiful thing you can wear.
2. Change the way you act.  This one is going to be hard.  As a start I put my scale in the closet where it belongs.  I don’t want my daughter to see me cringe at some arbitrary number on the scale and think that’s what she has to do.  Make conscious decisions every day to only eat what fuels your workouts, to only be around the people that make you happy, and to stop hating yourself.
3. Stop Comparing.  Comparison is the thief of joy, so stop comparing your mile #1 to someone else’s mile #1,000.  Be the best version of you.  And remember people usually only post their highlight reel on facebook not the nitty gritty parts of their lives.  It’s ok, no one is perfect.  And no one has the perfect life.
4. Stop buying into the culture of body perfection and body hatred.  The magazines that tell you how to loose 10lbs in a week...don’t buy them.  When you buy something you are giving your money and support to that cause.  Don’t like the way a movie objectifies women?  Don’t go see it.  I hear so often that we should pay our teachers, our firefighters, our cops more but instead we have athletes who make 10s of millions of dollars a year to play a game.  Well sorry people but that’s what we are supporting with our money, our social media.  It’s what society wants.  If you want to change society...it starts with you.

The platform for change starts with a small group of people.  A very small group of dedicated passionate people.  But in order to thrive it takes continual support and a willingness to change.  And maybe the only world you change is your own...maybe I’ll send my daughter into the world and she won’t give two cents about whether she has a thigh gap or not or whether curly hair isn’t “in”, instead she will have a heart of gold that longs to help and sees beauty everywhere. So what industries would go out of business if every woman woke up tomorrow and really liked her body?

1. Photoshop
2. Plastic Surgeons
3. Some of the makeup industry
4. ‘Body changing’ magazines
5. Waxing salons
6. Tanning salons
7. Hair Dye industry
8. The ENTIRE lot of pharmaceutical diet pill makers
9. Weight scales

Have any more?