These things are so common these days, you keep hearing people say, "Don't let anybody shame you," "Na God create you too," "You're beautiful just as you are." And many more are the things that people say and preach. I'm not saying it is bad; it is very good, especially in a society like ours where people are so quick to talk and talk down on you while using you to compare anything at all. Some people will just open their mouth without thinking twice about what is about to come out of it.
And that's just people for you. I left school sometime last year, so I went on a visit recently to say hi to my school fellowship. On getting there, I met some old students that we graduated together as well, and I started hearing different things like...“Toyosi, you don fat o,” "See your cheek," and the like. They were also commenting on one of our friends about how thin she now looks and the other about how big she now is and the fact that she's not even doing anything to cut down on her weight. Those were from friends; sometimes it comes from even family members, and there are times it comes from total strangers. One time or another we might have experienced such; sometimes when you've done a little bit of a wrong thing and the way they talk, using your body to insult you makes you feel as if...maybe you've offended them before. That is where body positivity comes in; it serves as a form of healing to one.
But then, too much of everything is bad. When you take it too far, it definitely becomes toxic. Let's imagine someone who's struggling with his/her health, maybe due to obesity, and it has now reached an extent that even the doctors are starting to warn you while stating the obvious, such as diabetes and some other health-related issue. And instead of cautioning yourself and listening to them while taking whatever precautions were offered, you decide to hide under the umbrella of, “There's nothing I can do about it; this is me, accept me for me.” Then just know you are harming yourself. The same goes with a skinny person too; maybe due to poor feeding and such, they still insist it's because he/she doesn't want to get fat to avoid being body shamed. Who tells you they don't body shame skinny people too?
Then we have those who use body positivity as a weapon against others; they will say things like, “Slim people are shapeless," “no curves, no figure 8." That’s just another form of body shaming. The intent of body positivity is to stop whatever comparison includes the fat, slim, chubby, tall, dark, fair, and all.
Love yourself the way you are, and never let society's standard or definition of beauty make you feel less. What I am trying to say in essence is that you should love yourself, love yourself enough to take good care of yourself, and if need be for you to watch what you eat, then do it. If there's the need to eat better or do away with certain things, then do it. If there's a need to exercise or see a doctor, then do it. If you truly love yourself, you won't ignore the body that carries you.
If you truly love and value your body, that body that houses everything that is called you, if you truly love that body that makes you qualify to be called a human, then nurture it, love it, and take good care of it.
All pictures are mine.
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