Walk In The Rain With Me: hollywood

5 Skinny-Girl Myths: Debunked!

Thursday, September 25, 2014

"If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, you can bet the water bill is higher!" -Debbie Macomber, Mrs. Miracle

Let me just get this out of the way- there are a lot of misconceptions about being skinny.

And as a skinny-girl myself, I feel like it's time to set the record straight. So here you go!

5 Skinny-Girl Myths: Debunked!

Myth: All skinny-girls are anorexic.

Fact: There are many different reasons a girl might be skinny. Yes, anorexia is one of them. But it's definitely not the only one. For instance, problems like IBD, Celiac, or some other food insensitivity can cause weight loss or problems gaining weight in the first place. And believe it or not, some of us are just born like that.

Myth: "I wish I had those problems..."

Fact: Skinny-girl problems aren't better or worse than your problems. Just different. When I mention having issues with my pants being too big around the waist or not having enough... stuff to fill up my shirt, people often say something to the effect of "Well, I wish I had those problems." The truth is, if you had those problems your entire life, you probably wouldn't wish for them anymore. Just because my problems seem smaller than yours doesn't they're better nor worse. Just different. No one's life is perfect.

Myth: Skinny-girls don't eat.

Fact: Lots of skinny-girls have a high metabolism, which means they can pack away a lot more than they look like. Until you've actually seen a girl eat when she's hungry, you have no idea how much it takes to make her full.

Myth: All clothes look good on us.

Fact: No one looks good in everything. Not even someone in a size zero. And in all honesty, it can be hard to find clothes that fit properly.

Myth: Skinny-girls don't (or shouldn't) have body-image issues

Fact: Weight is not the only possible insecurity a woman can have about her body. And even if it were, that wouldn't make "skinny-girls" immune from an unhealthy body-image.

Thank you GlutenFreeLemon for this great picture!

Bonus!

Myth: "Real women have curves."

Fact: One's femininity has nothing to do with one's weight. You are a woman not because of how much you weigh, or how nicely you dress. Your worth, beauty, and identity are not wrapped up in the number on a scale or the tag in your jeans.

You have so much more than that. Your personality, your sense of humor, your love for others... Your thoughts, dreams, and ideas... Your humanity. Your womanhood.

So what if we stopped turning skinny vs. curvy into some kind of war, and just respected people for who they are?

hollywood

True Love?

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

"Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained." -C. S. Lewis

Love- perhaps the most important "four letter" word ever, and yet we (as a culture and a people) really seem to have forgotten what love actually means.

We use and abuse the word love all the time- attaching it to everything from movies, to food, to hot celebrities. If you look at the real definition of love (as given to us by the one who knows it best), you see that love is sacrifice. "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends." Consider that in the context of modern culture's usage of the word-

"I [would die for] X-Men!"
"Cheese is so good! I [would die for] it."
"Benedict Cumberbatch is amazing. I [would die for] his acting!"

Yeah... I don't think most of us actually take that into account when we say we "love" all sorts of things. I mean, I don't know about you, but as much as I like cheese, I'm not gonna die for it. That's just silly!

And that's not the only way society has lost sight of what true love is- take most any Disney Princess movie, for instance. I'm not even going to go into the whole "marrying a man you met that day" thing, because that's too much to delve into right now. But here's what I do want to mention...

In most movies (Disney or otherwise), "true love" is shown as a guy and a girl who are destined to get married. The Princess (or the Prince in a few cases) is saved from the terrible spell by "true love's kiss".

Now, there's nothing wrong with this picture of love, because this can be love. (Like I said, I'm not going into the whole "marrying someone you only met that day" thing.) People who get married should truly love each other.

But I firmly believe that the love between a parent and their child, between siblings, between friends, and even between strangers (see "The Good Samaritan") is true love. It's a very different kind of love, to be sure, but it's still true love.

So... taking into account what I just said, I have actually been very refreshed by some of the newer movies that Disney has come out with. I've noticed a lot of people complaining about the rise of "feminism" in Disney movies. They want more "old-fashioned" fairy-tales like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, etc.

But what I like about these movies isn't their use of "girl power", or any perceived insinuation that guys aren't needed. (Because I don't really agree with that.) What I like about these movies is that they are opening up to the idea that true love might be more than just "romantic." In Brave, they showed us the true love between a mother and daughter. In Frozen, we saw true love between two sisters. And with Maleficent... well, I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen the movie, but if you have, than you ought to know what I'm talking about.

So... Does this mean that Hollywood finally understands what love actually means? That it's more than just warm, fuzzy feelings of attraction to someone else? Em... Probably not.

But now... for just a little while... they sort of got close.

hollywood

"All Of The Clone-Like People"

Monday, April 22, 2013

"Be yourself. Everyone else is taken." -Oscar Wilde

So, for any of you who might not know, I'm a dancer. A competitive dancer. For me, spring is the time of year that's full of competitions and performances. Most of the time it's fun, but there are those few dances each year that just make me want to run away screaming. And there could be several different reasons why.

First of all, there's the classic, "Sloppy Beyond Belief" dance. This one has all kinds of flexed toes, bent knees, and other dance nightmares. Frequently, these dances come in the form of ballet- my sister's pet-peeve. They're ballet dances done by people who should not be competing ballet- four year-old girls and level one dancers, for example.

Then, we have the "Tidy But Boring" dances. These are particularly frustrating, because they frequently win. Sometimes, judges will favor the extremely clean dances that have absolutely nothing challenging or interesting to them, over dances that have one or two mess-ups, but are much more age and level appropriate.

We've also got the "I Can't Believe Your Mom Let You Do That" dances. These dances are a little touchy because, evidently, I've lived a slightly sheltered life. I have no regrets about the fact that I didn't know what the "s-word" was until only a few years ago. I don't wish that I'd learning about "knowing people" (in a Biblical way) before I did. But anyways, my "sheltered" and homeschooled upbringing has led me to be quite shocked by some of the dances people do. (And the moms who let them do it!) I won't even get into any of the stuff that falls under this category...

And lastly, we have our "Lose Your Faith In Your Humanity" dances, which frequently include dances from the "I Can't Believe Your Mom Let You Do That" category. However, there are a few more dances in this category that don't fit into the previous section. One such dance was performed to the song "Beautiful People", by Christina Aguilera. It started out with all of these girls in red, sparkly dresses, except one. She was wearing this awesome costume with a white button-down top, black pants, and "nerd" glasses. (Minus the glasses, I've worn that exact outfit.) As I'm sure you can guess, she played that outcast. The gawky, uncoordinated, nerd. Then, just before the last round of the chorus, all of the other dancers helped her whip off her "nerd" outfit, where underneath she was wearing -guess what?!?!- a red, sparkly outfit. She gave a huge smile, and joined the ranks of red, sparkly, beautiful people.

And after I watched that dance, I wanted to run away screaming- and crying.

Has our society gotten so bad that we honestly believe we have to become clones of each other in order to be beautiful? Have we fallen so far we even encourage that kind of thinking? What has the world come to?...

As you go about your week, remember this- you are beautiful because God made you. And He made you you. He didn't make you Sally Sou, or Billy Bob- He made you you. And God must have known what He was doing, or He would have used a cookie-cutter...

5 Skinny-Girl Myths: Debunked!

True Love?

"All Of The Clone-Like People"

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