The Vintage Vixen

Don’t be a victim…

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Of what society tells you you should look like. Don’t let your guard down long enough to let mainstream media seep in and begin to dictate to you the definition of beauty. I’ve seen too many lives ruined by the unending, struggling pursuit of thinness.

Women are designed, biologically, to be curvy. Our body structure is incredibly different than a man’s. Men carry their layer of adipose tissue (fat) underneath a layer of muscle. Ladies, we carry our fat over our muscle. We’re built to be mothers, nurturers. Nature designed us to be able to carry nutrients for a potential child. So we retain nutrients more efficiently than men do. We’re more susceptible to simple sugars being turned into fat tissue. It’s unfortunate that this happens so early on, when having a child is really out of the question, but it’s reality. And THAT’S the ultimate argument, reality vs. fantasy. The reality is, most women carry a little extra weight because it’s natural. The fantasy, the abnormal scenario, is the woman who weighs 110 lbs at 5’10.

I know what you’re thinking. That it doesn’t matter. You want to look like a supermodel anyway. That you’ve heard all this before and still, still you want to be as thin as possible. I get that. I was a victim of the same self-deprecating thought process at one point in my life as well. But, it’s just an idea, perhaps a silly dream…if one by one we began to rebel against that thought process, if we could slowly allow ourselves to love our bodies the way they were designed to be…naturally, we could take back the power that the media has taken from us. We could be happier. We could look in the mirror and NOT see every insipid little flaw, magnified and torturous, ruining our lives indefinitely. We wouldn’t feel the need to compare ourselves to the unrealistic and abnormal standard of beauty.

Is it so outrageous to hope that one day, one day women could look at themselves in the mirror and, God forbid, like what they see? It hurts my soul to know that we do this to ourselves; we allow for the world we live in to dictate our level of happiness, instead of deciding for ourselves. I wish more women could recognize the strength of individuality that lies within them.

…and just be…

Oh words. The path that weight travels
to be lifted
from our shoulders and finally shifted
to the willing arm of a friend.
And do they know the help they provide
with intent ears and caring eyes?
These words that bear the bulk of burden
cannot be stored in a place and forgotten
they must be told, let out
and to breathe.
For sharing the weight sets a part of us free
again to swim in compassionate light
Those are our stories, that we whisper at night.
Oh wicked fear and repression know
that words and truth are your only foe
For in them lies a power untamed they
set the limits, they know the game.
Listen as words are spoken in breath
especially the ones that seem to be left
In our hearts and minds, where words are lost
but are spoken still
By actions and movement and expressed thought.