Re Glam Post || Don’t let society tell you how should be, tell society who you are!

I was asked to write an article about celebrities and the media and my view for a magazine called Re Glam Magazine. It encourages women to love themselves for whom they are and promote a healthy body image. To check out their website here is the link - http://www.reglam.me or follow them on twitter https://twitter.com/REglam_ME 

As a young child, I loved the Disney Princesses. I know they are animated but to me they were who I wanted to be when I grew up. They had the body, the beautiful hair and were very beautiful. I would spend my time dressing up and singing Disney songs, hoping that one day my prince would indeed come and take me away on his horse so we could live happily ever after. Little did I know that real life is not at all like a fairy-tale and sometimes we don’t get that happily ever after we would all like.

As much as I loved the Disney Princesses, they weren’t real people and so I took a look at celebrities around me. The likes of Emma Bunton, Avril Lavigne or Drew Barrymore caught my eye. Like Emma, I to was blonde and blue eyed and I instantly knew she was the person who I wanted to be. I would dress like her, wear my hair the same like most girls did in the period of the nineties. I was a Junior Baby Spice! I liked Avril because she was different from the likes of Britney and Christina, she was a tomboy and wore baggy trousers and sung about Skater Boys and at the age of twelve, Skater Boys were extremely cool! Throughout my teens, I was still obsessed with Avril Lavigne; she was just the person I wanted to be. She didn’t care what people thought of her, she wore what she wanted to and sang about things I could relate to. I had my hair like hers, I wore black eye make-up that made me look like a panda and I loved it! It wasn’t until a few years later when she changed her look and went and had blonder hair and wore skirts and lost that punk/skater feeling to her music that I realised I didn’t want to be her anymore and I went in search of someone new. But to my disappointment there was no one else. And so I had to settle with trying to be me and little did I know how much fun it would be. 

I grew into a person who doesn’t care how people saw her, a person who was not too bothered about people’s opinions and I still like being different. And I think if you’re true to yourself, you’ll be happy. Sometimes we don’t like the way we look and in the world today we can pay to have ourselves changed. We can have our boobs big or our lips bigger but for a price. I’m not against surgery at all, I think it can do some good for people but there is a line of changing something and becoming addicted. Celebrities spend so much money on trying to be beautiful when in fact they were already beautiful, they have nothing to change. I don’t like people hearing I’m not beautiful, who determines who is beautiful? Surely there are different opinions or views on beauty than one stereotypical idea of how a woman should look! I’m not a fan of skinny models in magazines because it promotes women to be and look a certain way. It suggests that you’re not beautiful unless you’re a UK size eight, six or four and anything bigger than you’re not as beautiful or you just won’t fit in. I’m totally against it and it’s the wrong messages to young girls growing up and turning into women. So many women die through anorexia or bulimia because of the pressure to be skinny. And it doesn’t help that many of today’s celebrities are skinny and you see their diet plans on the front page of magazines. There’s a different to being healthy and slim to skinny! I’m a UK size 8-12 (depending on where I shop!) and I don’t particularly eat healthily and I’m far too lazy to exercise, the thought of doing several press-ups makes me feel tired before I’ve even begun!And I like cake far too much to not limit myself to one slice a fortnight but I’m happy with my weight! 

It’s not just the media that makes us unhappy with who we are, it can also be friends or people we know. Sometimes we get told spiteful comments or remarks that make us feel uncomfortable with who we are. Yeah it lowers our self-esteem but sometimes the thing to do is ignore the comments. Sometimes it’s hard to ignore and you feel pressured into changing things that make you unique. I have personally been told, that I need to lose weight or I should dress a certain way or I should do things this way. And for a moment I have taken their advice and thought that they are right. And for a while I do the things they suggest but then I get fed up, I get so unhappy or miserable that I got back to how I’ve done things and I feel like myself again! Sometimes a little advice is great but if it stops you from being you then is it good advice? If you want bright hair, who cares if people moan that it’s too bright or to orange or if you like that extra slice of pizza when it’s going spare, who cares! I think if you’re confident in yourself then you’ll be happier for it! I have big blonde hair that usually sticks up no matter how many times I try to straighten it and make it stay. I wear big glasses and red lipstick which is one thing I can’t be without. I look like I should be in a children’s cartoon but I’m me and I love It. There is no one else like me at all and it’s great!

I don’t know what the key to happiness is but I believe being true to yourself has got to be a part of it. Don’t feel like you have to look like a certain Celebrity or have your hair in a certain style. You can have green hair and wear pink lipstick, as long as you is happy then that’s all that matters! If you worry about what others will think and keep yourself from shining then you’ll never be happy and you’ll regret it! Being you, being honest with yourself and sometimes that means change and it’s scary. Change often is and it makes us uncomfortable to even think about it. We like being comfortable and having an everyday routine but sometimes that doesn’t make us happy, we just pretend we are. Sometimes we look at those around us and think ‘If only I can be you’ but no matter how much we hope and want it will never happen, you are you and nothing you can and will ever change that fact! A quote I love is by Krystal Volney ‘Why compare yourself to others? No one in the entire world can do a better job of being you than you.’ and it’s true. Don’t be a Kim Kardashian or a Lady Gaga, just be you. Cause the more you are true to who you are the more you’ll feel confident in yourself and that’s something I believe in! Don’t let society tell you how should be, tell society who you are!

tags:lifestyle