Thursday, May 6, 2010
Summer: the days get longer, the shorts get shorter. With so much skin on display, it is human nature to make comparisons, judgments and assumptions.
Looking to others’ appearances leads to one of two results: Either we feel somehow validated, as if clothes, body or hairstyles make us better. Or, we feel inadequate. In both cases, there is always a loser.
How about making a vow to revive summer to the carefree, comfortable season that it should be? Theoretically, doing this would be simple enough. Just stop obsessing and stressing about appearances.
In actuality, it is a lot easier said than done. Society rewards superficial characteristics. Magazines, movies and TV screens continue to feature traditional beauties at the forefront.
There has been a modest revolution to overhaul America’s preoccupation with physical looks. Shows such as “Ugly Betty” and movies including “Bridget Jones’s Diary” and “Hairspray” all promote alternative beauty. Nonetheless, these examples are still exceptions to the rule.
For better or worse, a desire to attain perfection (or the next best thing) trickles down from Hollywood. Even the sidewalks of Mass. Street can begin to feel like the catwalks of New York.
All is not lost. It may be impossible to fully escape the glare of media, but it’s not impossible to diminish its effects on our lives.
This all starts with being less self-critical. All too often, we set double standards for how we value others versus how we value ourselves. How absurd does it seem to think of friends purely in terms of “fat,” “short “ or “big-nosed?”
So then, why do we allow ourselves to judge our own bodies in these ways?
This summer, free from the stress of school, spend time focusing on non-superficial things you enjoy. Instead of cooling off from the heat by roaming a mall, surrounded by photoshopped smiles of models, go to a local pool.
Before automatically dismissing this idea as crazy—I can already hear the, “Put on a swimsuit? Yeah right!” comments—use this as an opportunity to deemphasize appearance. Just because someone is smaller, tanner or more fill-in-the-blank doesn’t mean they are having a better time.
Believe it or not, everyone has insecurities. Kate Beckinsale, Esquire magazine “Sexiest Woman Alive” nominee, said in a 2009 interview, “I’ve always had doubts about my looks. Most women have body issues, and I’m no different.”
If feeling good about ourselves were as simple as popping a pill, there would be constant lines weaving out of pharmacies. If we could stop judging other people just by wearing filtered glasses, optometrists would be booked for months. Alas, as with most everything in life, there is no magic cure to body-anxiety.
No one is perfect. No one is always happy. No one is always beautiful.
Still, we can be the best possible versions of ourselves. We can be happy when we’re happy, and know that it is also acceptable to have bad days. We can smile, hold our heads high and walk with pride.
It’s summertime. Let your confidence shine.
— McCoy is a sophomore from Lincoln, Nebraska, in journalism.
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