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SELF-ACCEPTANCE: A Thread
Until I was in my late teens, I had a strong belief that I was ugly. I took all the comments on the way I looked and carried myself seriously. "Your teeth are crooked." So, I used to cover my mouth when laughing.
Until I was in my late teens, I had a strong belief that I was ugly. I took all the comments on the way I looked and carried myself seriously. "Your teeth are crooked." So, I used to cover my mouth when laughing.
When laughing out loud, I made sure to cover it even better. I used to beg my mom that I& #39;d like to wear braces, but she wouldn& #39;t let me. She thought my crooked teeth looked beautiful while I took her words as hollow consolation.
Some said, "Your forehead is a little too big." So, I cut bangs. "Your nose is pointy." Here, I really couldn& #39;t do anything, so it frustrated me sometimes. "Your hair is too curly. Why don& #39;t you straighten them?" I tried it many times only to burn my hair. "You are so short."
I tried all sorts of workouts to match up to the tall fellas. Of course, it resulted in nothing. Can you even defy genetics? "You& #39;re too thin." I started eating to prove to people that I wasn& #39;t frail.
"You& #39;re curvy." Now, I am healthy, and people tell me I need to let go of that flab. "Your skin is too sensitive." I get spots on my legs and hands from epilation. What to do about it? I have never been able to figure it out after trying out a hundred things.
"You dress so weirdly. I think you need to style yourself better." What& #39;s my style? I don& #39;t know.
Why am I sharing all these things? In recent times, some students told me how they& #39;re struggling to accept themselves regarding how they look, carry themselves, get along with people, and so much more.
Although I felt immensely grateful toward them for considering me their confidant, I could sense so much anxiousness and fear in their sharing that it worried me and took me down memory lane. They had so many questions, "What if I am not pretty?"
"What if I can never be as attractive or smart as my friends are?" "What if I can& #39;t ever get along with people or make friends?" Of course, I couldn& #39;t answer each question they had. All I could do was be there, hold space for them, listen to them, and that& #39;s what I did.
But, ever since, I have been thinking about my own journey of self-rejection to self-acceptance ( the work is in progress). It takes so much pain and hurt to try to transcend the worries about bodily imperfections.
It takes so much self-doubt and rejection before we can finally start to make peace with the way we are. With the social media race, the journey to self-acceptance can be even trickier and challenging.
I can only imagine how likes and comments might affect young kids today when it was already so difficult to make peace with these things back in my day.
Of course, I can& #39;t save anyone from the doubts, worries, pain, hurt, and rejections they will experience in their journey to self-acceptance. All I can do is empathize with them.
All we can do is empathize with each other, so let& #39;s do that with a little more conviction, a little more love.
