body positivity!

I wrote this post a while ago, but never got round to posting it, so here it is!
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Nobody is entirely confident with their body, right? With thanks to the media, everyone is so conscious about how they look,especially teenagers and young adults who are scarred from scrolling down endless tweets and Instagram posts of beautiful thin girls with big boobs and a big bum, captioned '#thinspiration'.

Throughout most of my life, I have been fairly indifferent about my body. I mean, as a child the only labels were 'fat' and 'skinny'. Was that right? No. Becoming a teenager and growing through my teenage years has made me come to understand that there isn't just 'fat' and 'skinny', and that although labelling people by the way they look is horribly mean and unjust, everybody does it and will it stop? No.

I've never been particularly big, although I did pile on the puberty pounds at around age 11, however, in my early years of secondary school, I was hit with the other end of the spectrum. "Oh my God you're so skinny, do you even eat?!" "You can't complain about your body,y ou're thin!" Wrong. The word 'skinny' is a horrible description of a slender body, and just because I may have been 'skinny' doesn't mean I couldn't have insecurities about my body.

Then, around age 14,boys began to be an important part of my life, why?-I don't know. I was and still am constantly criticised for my lack of curves, and I have often been described as having "the figure of a 10 year old boy" and being "as straight as a ruler." But of course, these things couldn't bother me because I was 'skinny'.

I'm still not entirely happy with my body, and I would like to possibly shed a few pounds and tone up, but that is for my own benefit, not anyone else's. I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that I will probably never have big boobs and a big bum, and I will never have a gap between my thighs because my hips just aren't wide enough. But none of that matters because I'm me and I am healthy and I am happy with my life and my look (kind of).

I think what helped me the most was my family and friends supporting me through my life and cursing at anyone that insulted my lack of curves. Recently there has been a lot of blog posts about body positivity and loving the skin that you are in, which I have found really helpful and interesting to read! 

There will never be 100% body positivity and you will always be judged by someone, but the world is beginning to realise that serious mental illnesses such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa often come about due to body negativity. It is 2015, we need to make a STAND. It happened for feminism in 2014, this year is our year! 

This photo was taken around a year ago on a geography trip. I love it because I am embracing my lack of curves and loving it (hence the laugh). #lovingtherulerlife 

I hope my story has helped inspire those who perhaps aren't as body confident! Embrace your curves or lack of them. Embrace your stretch marks or scars because they are proof that you have lived! 

Thank you for reading!

Lots of love,

CHLOE

xoxo