Trying to find something in my life that contradicts itself was a pretty interesting way to do a homework assignment. I kept trying to think big, but like the Chinese boxes, I knew I needed to start small. Then I thought of something that I know doesn’t only effect my life, but most women as well. My contradiction: how the obsession to be thin has influenced my life.
How women appear is a huge part of our society today. What women where, what they look like, what kinds of purses they own; the list is never-ending. The most important thing that girls are taught at an early age is that thin is beautiful. We are constantly bombarded by images of stick-thin celebrities and models. The clothes we see in stores look like they could fit a five-year-old, not a college student. We are even given toys as a child to make us think that thin is the best way to go. Think Barbie. A perfect image and the desire to be thin is an obsession that women all over the country have. I never thought I had it too.
During high school I played Varsity Soccer and ran Varsity Track all four years. I had always been on the smaller side, but I never really looked at it that way. It wasn’t that big of a deal. It wasn’t until I came to college and stopped playing two very active sports that I began the downward spiral into the thinness abyss. Those lovely freshmen 15…I gained them. Spaghettios at 2am were too good to pass up. It really wasn’t until clothes started fitting differently that I began to be obsessed, something I never though I would do in my life. I realized that the problem I had was I was still eating like I had while playing sports, but I wasn’t getting the exercise to burn it off. While in the long run it’s really not that big of a deal, I did begin to freak out about it. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I don’t look like I did in high school, but I’m not completely upset with my new body either. I may have put a little weight on, but I don’t think that curves are a bad thing. Stick-thin just looks so wrong, and I would never want to look unhealthy.
Now I’m working on getting myself back into shape. Not because I want to be wicked thin, but because I want to be healthy and have an active lifestyle again. I’m graduating in less than four months and I want to take advantage of a free gym while I can! I just hope that I never get that caught up in the media frenzy to be the perfect size again. I’m sure it will happen at some point, but at least I know now that I can take a step back from the madness of it all.
