I am someone that is quite heavily (no pun intended) involved in many aspects of the plus size community. From attending plus size events, to being a member of Facebook groups I do it all. I love it and chatting to women of all shapes and sizes about their bodies makes me a very happy girl. Of course, being involved in the community means you get to meet people on different stages of their journey and that is fine, but it can sometimes be a little frustrating.
Every day I see beautiful women putting themselves down – often not even because they mean it but because it has become some what of a habit. They think that they should be covering their arms and disguising their stomachs, but no one else wants to see that. Sometimes I get frustrated that these women aren’t in the same place as I am, but I have to remember that the journey to body acceptance is sometimes a long and twisted one and we’re all at different stages.
What I will say to anyone that has doubts about their body is just to try and be a little kinder to yourself. When you use hurtful words to describe yourself you’re giving other people permission to talk to talk to you like that. If you could listen to what you are saying & you could hear those words being said to someone else, how would you feel? The chances are that if you over heard someone telling someone else that they were fat and ugly or that they should be covered up because they are disgraceful you would feel horrified and do what you can to stop it. So when you are saying those things to yourself, why is that OK?? The answer is, it isn’t.
I really do understand that in today’s society, loving your body is hard work. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t worth it. Work hard to love your body and just be a little kinder to it, it;s worth it I promise it!
The important thing to remember is that your body is worthy of love, no matter what ‘state’ it is in – whether you feel too fat, too thin, too tall, too short, too unhealthy etc – your body is still desperate for you to love it. You only get one body in this life time and all it wants is for you to love and appreciate it… When you think of it like that, why would you deny it?
I am so proud to say that the #WeAreTheThey movement has continued that is thanks to people like you. So many of you send your kinds words and photos for the #WeAreTheThey movement and you have made such a difference. People at the very early stages of loving their bodies really do benefit from seeing your photos so please keep up the good work. You make me all so proud.
Debz Louise is a plus-size blogger based in Yorkshire. Behind many nationwide campaigns such as #WeaAreTheThey & winner of Best Blogger at the UK Plus Size Awards, she talkas about life as a plus-size 40-something woman in South Yorkshire.
