10 Feb 2012

Project perfect


Girls are under so much pressure to look 'perfect' nowadays, but what is perfect? Who came up with this perfect image? How did it come about? To me, perfect is being happy with who you are and the way you look, that is all that matters. However, most girls, including myself, sadly consider perfect to be this crazy image that only exists due to the invention of photo editing software and the influence of the media who for some reason have taken advantage of this obsession with perfection only to take over the minds of us girls in a way no one would have hoped for. With me having only left the manipulating world that is high school in September I have experienced first hand the controlling and saddening ways of this issue hastily sneaking its way into the minds of young girls without them being aware until they sit down and have a good think. Which in reality, none of us do unless the inspirational people in our world come to the rescue to attempt to cure our possessed minds. In this case i'm talking about the one and only Gok Wan, helping us love our bodies no matter what shape or size. You may or may not have heard about his new mission; to cure the hatred many teens have for their bodies in his new series Gok's Teens: The Naked Truth. As soon as I seen this advertised I hit the record button as it really is something I feel strongly about and knew Gok, who was bullied as a youngster would do a good job - and he did. Inspired by this program the lovely Amy came up with an amazing new project to help further; project perfect, created to help everyone focus on what we do like about ourselves instead of us looking in the mirror and picking out every minor thing that we dislike which in reality are things that people do not notice or things that others love about us and most importantly, they are what makes us unique. Why would we want to look like everyone else? And no, people are not going to 'think you love yourself', they are going to respect and be inspired by you. So what does project perfect consist of:

1. Post a photo that you like of yourself and say in a couple of sentences why you like it.
2. State some things that you DON'T like about yourself but say why others may love to be like that.
3. State 3 things that you DO like about yourself.

1. A photo of myself that I like and why:

Not too sure why this is coming out so bad quality but I like how natural I look on here from my hair to my makeup. Me and the camera seem to have such a hatred towards each other, I am always left looking unlike myself and rather strange on photos but here I have to say, I do look more 'normal'.

2. 3 things that I DON'T like about myself but why others may love to be like this:
  • My hair: although I made a trip to the hairdressers yesterday to get it sorted resulting in me being slightly happier with my locks right now they are still horribly thin and flat. However, many people struggle with their super thick hair so would maybe appreciate it if it was thinner. 
  • My body: as a whole it isn't something i'm happy with as I would love to be more toned, I know that i'm the only one that can do anything about that though. I often appear to be of an OK shape whilst clothed in my usual state, aimed at avoiding any show of my nasty body bits. People don't know about the wobbly bits hiding beneath which make me feel like shit. I do know that people struggle to put weight on though. 
  • My skin tone: I am super ghostly white and my overall skin tone is rather uneven with many veins showing through, especially on my chest. I would love to be more tanned. However, I really dislike fake tan and some people do find this typical 'english rose' type skin beautiful so I probably should embrace it.

3. 3 things that I DO like about myself: 
  • My arms: they have always kind of just been there, I do like them but have never really focused on them as they are not something I dislike, I don't mind having them on show. 
  • My nails: I have always been lucky with my nails and often get compliments on them, they are super strong and healthy, if one was to snap it would grow back quickly. 
  • My teeth: Ok so I may not exactly like them yet but I am coming to the end of my time with braces, hopefully a few more trips to the orthodontist and I will have a lovely straight smile as they are almost there and I can see a massive improvement from 16 months ago when they were first put on and I absolutely HATED my teeth. I'm so happy with how far they have come and can't wait to show off my non-wonky non-metal smile. 

I will admit I did find this difficult, finding just 3 things I like about myself wasn't easy, but this is because we are silly enough to not take notice of the positives. If you are currently sitting there thinking 'I don't like anything about myself' like I was just have a good think and you WILL find 3, or maybe even more things that you like about your looks. Just like I did, and it will make you smile. Although we would all love too make this problem disappear, it is pretty impossible to alter the media which is sadly making billions in turn for many of our population loathing themselves, however, small things such as the show and this project can make a difference. Thanks Amy for helping us all appreciate ourselves a little more, hopefully many of you will do this and begin to think more positively about the way you look. Remember, you are beautiful no matter what. There is no such thing as a perfect image or no rule as to what you should look like. You are unique. Thanks for reading. Love,
Rachael xx

8 comments :

  1. Hey, I'm a new follower, your blog is great! I just did this post over at my blog too after reading Amy's post! I love reading everyones as its nice to know i'm not the only person who dislikes things about myself.
    You certainly don't look like you have any wobbly bits and your hair is lovely! You should check out my blog! Oh, I noticed we both live in Newcastle too :D x x x.

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    1. Hello! Thankyou for following, aw thankyou so much just had a look at your blog and I love it, now following :) yeah I love this concept, everyone coming together to let us know that everyone is unique. Thankyou that means a lot, I manage to hide them under the clothes I choose most of the time, must do something about it so I can start choosing my outfit based on what I want to wear, not what will cover those areas! aah I love finding bloggers from the same area :) xxx

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  2. You look gorgeous here! This is such an inspirational post xxx

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  3. A beautiful photo! And the dress is gorgeous too xx

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  4. This is a truly inspirational post, you should be proud. You look stunning in your photo too xx

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    1. thank you so much, that means a lot! I'm so happy I have inspired people xx

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Thank you for all your lovely comments.