Why is a person’s identity based on his/her appearance or their physique? Why is a girl beautiful only when she satisfied the societies’ idea of the “perfect body”. The idea of a perfect body is delusional because there is no ideal body shape. Many of us are ridiculed at or taunted just because our build does not comply with the societies' ideas of a flawless body. Why are we often forced to face everything that society throws at us? Well, I choose not to. I cannot let my life be ruined by people telling me what to do. As a child who was born lean, my parents always fed something or the other so that I would gain weight. Puberty hit me early and my bones started broadening and my body started gaining weight. Now the society had just one advice for me- “Beta, you should eat less” or “You need to loose weight.” Any comment on my body crushed me and all I could do was cry about it. I never wanted to change myself just because people said so. Facing all that stuff has made me love myself more than ever. The hate that gradually built up in me for my body was unbeatable and as a child all of these things traumatic. People would come and tell me about the ways I should live my life. Everybody told me to exercise so that I would loose some weight and satisfy their idea of looking pretty. No one ever told me how it will keep me fit and how it is important for my mental health. Gradually when I moved past the weight thing people had more for me- “Get taller” or “Have these medications to get taller” and hence, the cycle of demeaning each other continues. Often as a society we try to push each other down but let us all learn to be kind to each other instead of sabotaging life of others. All you have to do is “ LOVE YOURSELF” because that is definitely something which will last forever.
- Aditi Sharma