Body Positivity and Why It's Important

When I was in elementary school, everyone was so focused on arts and craft and whether or not the classroom had enough crayons to color our drawn butterflies. But no one was really focused on anyone appearance, at least not from what I remembered. Now that I think of it elementary school were the only years I didn't care about the judgement.

But it wasn't until middle school that I started realizing that people were judged based off appearance rather than who they really were. I will never forgot the first time a childhood friend called me 'fat'. I remember hearing those words slowly come out of his mouth and my heart sank so low that I ran to the bathroom and examined my body. That night when I came home I looked at all my flaws and cried for hours figuring out why 'fat' was such an insult.

I never embraced my body when I should have. And I deeply regret that, because I went through the worst times of my life trying to fix it. I wouldn't eat for hours and continuously count my calories, it was truly draining for my body and my mental health.

I scrolled through social media trying to find my 'ideal' body type and work out for hours trying to achieve it. All because someone commented on my weight. But when I first saw Ashley Graham (plus-size model) someone who preaches for body positivity, I quickly felt belonged and felt like our bodies shouldn't define who we are.

Then it slowly became a trend 'body positivity' it was something that I wish had more awareness when growing up, because I wouldn't have tried to satisfy the society trying to achieve a unrealistic goal.

It can be difficult to look in the mirror and love what you see but you have to remember that you are the only you, no one is a replica of you. So when looking at yourself next time remember that you unique and every attribute of yourself whether it is your personality or appearance creates the person that you are, so love that person more than you've ever loved anything else.

And no it isn't cocky or conceited it's being confident in your own skin and being able to embrace what your mama gave you! You're worth more than just your body or what the media tells you to be. You need to spend time making yourself happy, not spending time trying to satisfy society and damaging not only your mental health but your physical health as well.