I used to really dislike this wide legged trouser trend that is so popular at the moment. Over the last year, it has slowly become the LA girls uniform and now, I am a full convert.
While pondering on the fact that my attraction towards these pants has changed, I realized how we, collectively as humans, can unlearn or change what we see as attractive, but we often seem to forget this.
How many of you reading this believe that THIN = BEAUTIFUL?
how about THIN = ATTRACTIVE?
Or THIN IS BETTER?
When I ask my clients about why they struggle to accept and love themselves they often say something like “I can’t love myself at this size because it’s unattractive or ugly.”
As if we have no capacity as a human to change our mind about what is beautiful.
Lke it’s hardwired into our brains, we were born with these beauty ideals rather than something we are conditioned to see.
We are taught to think a specific body type is attractive by the people and messages around us.
But what we see as attractive can change.
Just like I thought I would never swap my skinny jeans for these (ugly) trousers, the more I saw them on other women, the more they grew on me, until eventually I was like OMG I NEED A PAIR.
Like the trousers, I used to hate everything about my body, until I actively worked on seeing beauty within myself.
I started to change the messages I ingested and the people I was surrounding myself with. I left my job in the fashion industry and stopped reading magazine.
So if you are struggling to see your body as beautiful or attractive, what are you doing to influence the way you see yourself?
Are you reading tabloids and fashion magazine or body-positive blogs?
Are you hanging out with people who are afraid of fat and constantly dieting or body-positive people?
Are you following people on Instagram who post before and after photos or body-positive accounts?
Are you looking for beauty everywhere, or is your view narrow in scope?
In order to improve our Body Image we need to be open to seeing things differently.
xo C
*An Isabel Foxen Duke idea