I'll always remember her hands, my,granny, they were so soft and elegant. It is still one of the first things I notice in people. It represents something for me, a good strong memory of a woman that was kind, generous and always so full of life and stories.
So there is only one of all of us. Yet when so many well actually most of us look in the mirror, all we see is flaws. But there is only one of us so how can we compare?! The stereotype of what we should look like is actually getting worse by minute. This is down to social media, filters, angles, retakes and living that oh so 'real life' online.
It is funny really how obsessed we are and the world at large is with beauty and what defines it. And yet if you really think about life and happiness, you only remember how people made you feel not what they were wearing or how they looked.
One thing is for sure I am so sick of looking at the fake aesthetic of beauty that is now bombarding our lives on the daily. Like breasts that look like water melons, pert and upright standing to attention, enlarged lips (that are not I repeat NOT surgically enhanced), angled photos that give you a six pack for a 3 second snap, thigh gaps and hastag inspo fitness photos of people basically just wearing active wear. I don't know where it began and I honestly don't know where it will finish.
The plastic doll model that women and young girls are now facing as an ideal physical body and facial type is so worrying that I think society at large has not yet come to terms with. My main concern is that everyone is simply morphing into the one look. Why are we now so obsessed with looking the exact same as everyone else? Where does that come from and why has the uniqueness of spirit and mind left us.
Striving for physical perfection is hard work, this is not dependent on what you want as everyone will want different looks and are yearning for that ideal body, face, hair, nails, eyelashes, skin type, skin tone, foot size, hand shape, ear lobe.... I kid you not. The days of oh my god I hate my thighs are long gone, now it's more specific " I hate my elbows, they are too round".
Whilst I am an advocate of living a healthy lifestyle and training your body for agility, strength and movement; I am not however living in an obsessive vault where I am defined by what the aesthetic now is for what people have pre conceived as the perfect body type.
The measure of a person in my eyes is solely down to how they make you feel in their company and how you feel when you leave them. People are complex and everyone offers a little something different to each relationship you have. Some people are natural moaners, but you still like them, others lift you no matter what and have an innate ability to always see the brighter and bigger picture, some are just funny, some are just lovely and some are just natural born carers.
Questions like what defines success for you, what you define as happiness and what is happiness are often asked and answered in a very PC way. But I think we can forget the simple fact that happiness begins from within. Unless you yourself are happy how on earth can you be happy for anyone else? I think it's time to take a step back and begin to look a little harder at ourselves, what are we bringing to the table? Are we working on ourselves every single day?
Life is very interesting but at most we go back to basics on things when we realise that over complicating anything is unnecessary. Like with weight loss, move more eat less. FULL STOP.
So this uncomplicated way of life should really be fostered within yourself as well. Who wants to look, be and sound the same as everyone else?
I know this is easier to simply do as was done before or as everyone is doing now. I read this week that a blogger I like is actually sick of shooting that idealised life shot that we are all so familiar with (basically food shots from a height that you would almost have to be on (and people have done this) a ladder to get that perfect shot) which is all well and good if you are that person that casually carries a ladder everywhere you go..... but for the rest of us we just simply cannot commit to bringing the ladder.
I think we have lost our way a little in the form of human connection, yes we are all great at sharing and giving the love through all social media platforms, text messages, email, instant message but when it comes the crunch how are we really do in real life.
People don't want to meet any more, they just message as perhaps the fear of not being able to communicate in inspiring quotes and memes might not just flow in real time. While social media and all these mediums have helped the world to share and connect in so many ways, I wonder at times has it also actually affected how we actually communicate and show affection and emotion in real time and life?
So take a leap of faith, maybe even this week and know that your energy and you yourself has a massive impact on the people in your life. So give a little love, energy and kindness this week and see the difference in not only your world but in the people in your life.
Attention goes where energy flows...
