Insecurities

I was born in the 80's and grew up in 90s. During this times the standards of beauties wear really different and practically unachievable. During these decades the women who were extremely thin were considered to be beautiful. I agree some of them were definitely beautiful. However the idea of skeletal beauty was definitely unhealthy.

What I had seen in my growth years definitely created a body image that I always felt that I could never achieve. In my teenage and youth I always felt that I was the ugliest person in the room. I felt that every person in the room was thinner and prettier than me. I would always have an insecurity and inferiority complex wherever I would go. It took me years to accept my body and the way I look.

In my 30s I realised that I was not the only one feeling this way. Most women who grew up in these decades felt the same. The reason was simple: the women considered to be beautiful were always thinner than us. The clothes that were made available in the shopping malls and stores never fit - they were always too tight. Every size of the clothing that we would try would always make a feel that there is something wrong with our bodies. We were never comfortable with our bodies.

Unfortunately during those times nobody tried to break the concept for us. Nobody tried to tell us that the beauty standard is not achievable. Nobody told us that do not look at the beauty standard because there is none. Nobody try it to put the idea of loving yourself into our minds. In fact we were told exactly the opposite. We were told that the clothes are for the ideal body and if they do not fit then you do not have the kind of body. It is needless to say that the beauty standards had been absolutely brutal.

As we grew we realised that every scale to measure the women's beauty is broken. We realised that there should not be a scale or a measurement to quantify the beauty of women. We realized that the beauty is measured based on our substance and not by any scale or measuring tape. But by that time we had already started damaging and destroying our bodies. I had met a lot of women who are a currently in there late 30s or 40s who faced a lot of hormonal imbalance and subsequent complications. Most of them were attributed to the diets that they followed in their teenage and youth. They are tied to the unhealthy eating habits that they acquired because of the body image issues that they faced in those ages. It is unfortunate, disheartening, and hurtful to see that nobody informed them of the long term effects of their crash diets.

Overall I believe the issue related to the weight and body measurements still remains in the women of my generation despite of being told to love ourself. Probably we are completely beyond that. But at least we ensure that we are shielding the next generation from such brutal assessments.