What do you think of when you think of your body? What are the first things that come to mind and how would you describe your body? In a study conducted by LifeScience earlier this year, almost one-third of college-aged women surveyed said they would trade at least one year of their lives to have a perfect body, what they consider the ideal body weight and shape. Can you imagine a whole year to have that “perfect body”! It gets worse… Ten percent were willing to trade two to five years, and two percent were willing to trade up to 10 years of life away. Some of the women surveyed even said they’d give up a promotion, some of their salary, or time with loved ones! The sad part of this entire survey is that most of the women who were surveyed were of normal, average, healthy weight!
Unfortunately, our society is obsessed, yes obsessed, with how we look and what I call Superficial Health. People are more into how they look and how others perceive them than in how they feel and how their body functions. We are more concerned with that “perfect body” than being balanced and healthy. Take a look at the magazines the next time you cruise by the stand, that is what our society has to compare themselves to and this is sad! From experience and being behind the scenes of photo shoots, etc. I can say that lighting, make up and everything else has so much to do with what we see in the magazines but how is the public to know this!? Instead, the public sees “perfection” and strives to be this when really so much of it is photo shop and proper angles, lighting, etc. This is purely sad and unrealistic! Time is our precious commodity that should not even be considered to give up for that “perfect body”.
Perfection, what does it mean to you? You want to be “perfect” in whose eyes? If you were “perfect” how would your life change? Is your “perfection” ideal and realistic? As a society, we need to shift our focus from “perfection” to living a healthy and fit balanced lifestyle! One that is realistic and one that encompasses all aspects of true health from eating whole, fresh foods, exercising regularly, keeping a positive outlook, inspiring and motivating others and being an all around good wholesome person who is doing something daily to help themselves and others. That is what balance and pure health is all about! It is about how you feel from the inside out and not how you look from the outside in!
Don’t chase perfect, chase perfectly healthy. The best part about chasing healthy, is it’s achievable and absolutely realistic. Chasing some idealized vision of perfection isn’t realistic and definitely not achievable. Health comes from the inside and exudes or radiates externally! You must dig within yourself to build that healthy balanced foundation and you will then create your own ideal perfect YOU! That is achievable while trying to be that cover girl model is not! Don’t set yourself up for an unachievable goal! Focus on being the best you can be and shifting your mind from perfect to balanced and healthy! You not only will ease your mind but reap all of the benefits from increased energy, boosted immunity, enhanced mood, more time alive … You get my point!
Focus on what you do like. I bet there are several things about your body you do like. Maybe it’s your shoulders or your hard calf muscles or your long legs. Focus on what you like about yourself and your body instead of wishing you could be someone different. When you drop the idea of “perfection” from your mind, you just may discover you like more about yourself than you realized! Once you shift your mind, the rest will follow! It all begins from within!
Let yourself accept you. If you have achieved your fitness or weight loss goals, are you happy? You should be! So often people continue to find that they are still not happy because they want more, they want perfection! Don’t allow yourself to go after this unrealistic vision of perfection or you will never be happy! You have to set up realistic goals and be happy with your journey towards them and then of course once you reach them! Appreciate where you are right now. Congratulate yourself on what you have achieved for yourself. Create healthy living goals for yourself so you can let yourself live and enjoy the satisfaction in knowing you are exactly where—and who you want to be for YOU!
Pursue health and balance over perfection! We are in this together!
