Pretty

I changed the layout on the blog!  And I added my lists to the right column!  Now, I know, for some people, this is not a big deal, but it took me hours last night to figure it out.  Seriously.  Stop snickering.  It is a BIG DEAL to me.  For whatever reason I am not computer savvy at all, so I am extremely pleased with myself right now.  

Now onto some really serious subject matter...gossip and celebrities!  I am addicted to celebrity gossip.  It is like mental junkfood for me and I consume whatever tidbits I can get my hands on.  I know more about celebrities than is acceptable, and it is of no use to me.  The other day I was saying to my brother in law that I find Ashton Kutcher to be immensely annoying and he replied, “But even though you don’t like him I bet you can tell me everything about him".  And he was right, I rattled off his real full name, where he grew up, how he started in the business, what restaurants he owns, I could go on, but really, WHY?!  Why do I know all this?  And why do I retain it?  Why can’t I remember the name of my fourth grade teacher but I know all about Vajazzling and who does it? (Don’t ask, you do not want to know)  It would be so much more useful if I was an idiot savant when it came to foreign policy, U.S. Politics, I would even settle for being able to remember half of the plot lines of all the books I have read over the years.  Nope.  My brain is a massive vault of useless celebrity info.  I don’t even LIKE these people.  In fact the more I dislike them, the better! That’s the whole point of celebrity gossip, real train wrecks and tragic stories aside, it is smutty and juicy but pure fluff.  

Being a total gossip hound I have a few sites I like to check in with on a regular basis and Crazy Days and Nights is one of my favorites.  It is a funny, intelligent, well written blog and some of the blind items are super juicy.  The other day the author of the site went on a rant about Jennifer Love Hewitt that was timely considering the list, and my journey to come to terms with my body and my focus on getting healthy.  Basically he said he is sick of J-Love (to those in the know, wink, wink) and her hypocrisy. She is always preaching self acceptance and advising women to embrace themselves the way they are, however, she does not in any way practice what she preaches.  A lot of female celebrities are big on that whole “I am woman hear me roar” thing but they don’t back up their words with their actions.  How many starlets have landed on the cover of People or US weekly with the tag-line “How I lost the weight!” or “How I Got My New Body!”?  Or how about this ridiculous new trend of celebs giving birth and literally like a week later they are 90 lbs again?  Essentially nothing seems to get a starlet media attention faster than gaining or losing weight (except maybe a sex tape, but that is a discussion for another time). 

When I was younger I would read all the articles in the very magazines with the skinny models on the cover, saying that images of svelte models and actresses set unrealistic goals for young girls in terms of their body and have a negative effect on their body image.  I actually at the time didn’t agree with that assertion.  I would think to myself, “The models don’t make me feel fat, I feel fat because I AM fat.”  Healthy mindset, right?  What I was too young to realize is that because I was overweight in a society that vilified people for being fat I had diminished feelings of self worth, suffered from depression, and thought I deserved to be invisible since I was less than perfect.  Being overweight is unhealthy, it shortens life spans, it quadruples your chance for heart disease, stroke, cancer, and a plethora of other ailments, anyone who has watched Oprah or Dr. Oz knows this.  No one is proposing that as a society we embrace being overweight and promote it as the new standard of beauty.  However, wouldn’t it be nice if the current standard of beauty wasn’t arguably almost as unhealthy as being overweight?  Being grossly underweight also increases your chances for heart failure, stroke, seizure, and many other ailments.  Not to mention it is almost physically impossible for a majority of the population to achieve.  I know the pressure I felt when I was younger was immense, I internalized that pressure and instead of it making me thin it made me feel  discontent, sad, and alone which ironically made me eat more.  The standard is even higher now and young girls have even more access to images of svelte and lithe woman wearing less and less every day it seems. I can’t even begin to fathom how discouraging and overwhelming it must feel to be a teen aged girl in this day and age.  The pressure they feel to look a certain way I would imagine is ten fold what it was when I was their age.  

I don’t know what the remedy to this issue is. It is not the first time it’s been debated, and it won’t be the last.  I like when bloggers and people with a voice call out the hypocrisy and encourage people to recognize how ludicrous the media images and the people selling them are.  I know for myself I have changed my mind set.  I realized long ago I would never be “skinny” and in my 30’s I have come to terms with that and am okay with that reality.  I now want to get healthy, not skinny.  I want to have the energy to do all the things I want to do in life.  And I want a long life, heart disease runs in my family, I need to be cognizant of the fact that the older I get the higher my risk if I remain overweight.  And yes, I want to look and feel good in clothes, but I am realistic, I will never look like Gisele Bundchen and that is fine, I just want to be the best me.  It took me 20 years to change my perspective though.  How long will it take the 10 year olds of today to accept who they are and how they look?  20 years like me?  Will the standard keep getting more extreme?  I know that my mentality has changed and I am trying to make sure that any conversation regarding my journey to lose weight that I have with others I am making them aware that it is all about being healthy and living life to the fullest and being the best me.  And I know that babies don’t know what “ugly” is.  They know beauty and their curious minds are all about discovery, but they don't judge and they don't discriminate.  We aren’t born with these outrageous standards, they are learned.  Terr-bear is stirring in his crib, I better wrap this up. Incidentally his favorite word right now is pretty and he uses it almost constantly; when he points to me, his lovely mother, his frog, trees, wind chimes, the laundry basket, an ant, basically anything he likes is “pretty”.  To me he has a better understanding of beauty than many adults.  Before I go hug my little bear, here is an appropriate Audrey Hepburn quote: 

“For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.”

Comments

[Missy]

I literally had to go to the bathroom bc you compared yourself to an idiot savant, so hilarious.

I am with you on retaining useless celeb info & then thinking I somehow know these people personally. I also have deep rooted opinions based on my gossip gathering... The celebrities that I hate most are J. Love Hewitt, Julia Roberts & Pat O'Brian. There are so many more, but thought I would let you know ; ) J.Love thinks she is Audrey Hepburn reincarnated. Ridiculous!

When I was a teenager, I remember studying the magazines & the girls skin or bodies & not knowing about airbrushing & photoshop. I thought these girls really looked that perfect. how can one compete with something that is totally made up?? It is truly horrible.

[Claire]

Brilliant. I love it. I am stealing the quote from Audrey Hepburn for FB! But I will also tell everyone to check out this amazing Blog!

Love you!

[Christy]

My idiot savant tendancies are for anything set to music- commercial jingles, sitcom theme song lyrics, everything ever recorded by Debbie Gibson-- all useless shit stuck in my brain!