Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2015

Since when did thigh gaps and rib cages become more important than health itself? When did being as light as a feather matter more than life?

It became more important when we let society and the media influence our views on how we should look and what "perfect" is. 

#NationalEatingDisorderAwarenessWeek2015

Eating disorders form in a range of ways and can be influenced through society. The different types of eating disorders are Bulimia, Anorexia and Binge eating. Each control your life and can contribute to a low self esteem and distorted body image. Eating disorders can start mentally from a low self esteem or can start from needing a sense of control. We can't control what happens everyday in life, but we can control our intake - this is how many eating disorders start from a sense of underlying pain and hatred of oneself. 

Eating disorders are real and anybody no matter what shape, size or gender could be suffering from one. They are treatable, but often can be difficult to understand by people who haven't experienced a similar thing. Concepts can be mixed up and stereotypes can come into play making it  harder for people to speak openly about their feelings and what they are going through. 

Not all eating disorders can be noticed. Take the time to look out for the symptoms and to look closer into the lives of people close to you. Don't let eating disorders go unnoticed, nobody should have to suffer alone because nobody reached out to them. If you notice sudden weight loss, a unhealthy obsession with food or strange habits around food you should take the chance to confide in the person and check that nothing is wrong. Show support. Eating disorders should never be faced alone. 

Let national eating disorder week inspire you to find out more and educate yourself with the symptoms so you can reach out to those close to you and prevent a mental health issue from forming. 
If you or somebody close to you is suffering from an eating disorder, it is possible to recover but be sure to speak up and ask for help. Don't wait for it to rule and ruin your life. Make a stand and take the help available, don't be afraid to confide in those around you. 

Lastly, Love yourself. Everybody is different and perfection seeks to exist. Everybody else is different, and that is okay. Nobody was born looking the same and nobody will ever look identical, curves, hips and size don't make a person "ugly" they only make us who we are as an individual. Embrace your beauty. Beauty isn't measured in calories, beauty is measured in how you flaunt what you have. 

"The mirror is just a reflection just like society is just an opinion you are all beautiful"

"Food isn't the enemy your mind is"

"I will use my voice to admit I am hurting instead of using my BODY to show that I am hurting"

(Credits of photo: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/43980533831232264/)

Learn to live not just survive, you are worth recovery
I love you all, stay strong beautiful!

BlurofBeauty

Valuing yourself

Valuing yourself is one of the most important things in life. If you don't respect yourself, who will? I am addressing this topic today because I see so many teenagers, young adults and people who struggle with coming to terms of their self worth. 

Credits of photo: ( https://conversationswithg.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/001-valuing-yourself-is-the-key.jpg?w=300&h=294 )

In today's society we judge ourselves over other people. We idolise the features in which we wish we had. In this world nobody is perfect, but in our minds we see potential in people and we seek out perfection. We forget to be true to ourselves. We are who we are and that should be embraced. We learn to devalue ourselves through behavior. We view self worth in 'perfection' and 'beauty' rather than what is beneath the surface.  If you don't respect yourself, who are we at the core? What do we have to offer to other people, how do we portray ourselves? 

Everybody is valuable. No matter what circumstance. Everybody is unique and different. Everybody has their own values and opinions. 

"You may strive to be somebody else's idea of perfect, but at the end of the day who are you to yourself, your friends and family" - JH

In life, we feel that valuing yourself makes you to seem "cocky" "big  headed" or even "over confident" This is not the case what so ever. There is a fine line between, knowing your values and self worth, and exaggerating yourself. By valuing yourself we present a outline and a baseline for people to see who we really are, how we are defined and how we feel about ourselves. We all have things we dislike, and things we like. Its the same with how we value ourselves, we may disagree with our hips, our hair, our weight, and our facial features, but that doesn't define us as a individual. There are many different factors to a person. We could sit here and envy somebody else, but that wouldn't help us grow as an individual. 

Sometimes making a list of the things you feel you are good at can help benefit your respect for yourself and provide you with a baseline to valuing yourself. 
E.g. 1. I am a good friend.  2. I like always hand in my assignments on time. 3. I am a good role model to my siblings. 4. I care for those around me. 

We feel as if we are "bragging" when picking out the good things about ourselves, but that isn't the case. It is only bringing out the positive sides of us. When we feel as if we are being "big headed" we need to question why, if we are living up to the expectation, why should we feel bad about being a good loyal person? Why wouldn't we pick out the good things over the bad? Why do we always search for the negatives over the positives? We could easily find the negatives within ourselves, but why do we find it so hard to search for the positives? 

Your self worth is a function to valuing yourself. To value yourself, you must take time to find yourself and discover your own depths. You have to take control of your own individuality, nobody else should be able to define you or change you like a puppet. By this I mean, find your successes, interests, happiness and goals in life. Society places guidelines in which we feel we are obligated to follow, such as outward appearances and success, but this isn't the case. Once you  feel you have found yourself, hold onto that feeling and never let it go. Be content with yourself, and let the inside shine through to the outside. Everybody is living in a world of change. With change we find different flaws and features that are discovered along the way, of growing, adapting and living. We may not all agree or like the changes but everybody has their own opinion. 

We should strive for more. The potential within a person never stops, there is never a full outcome to be reached. There is always more to be gained and always more goals to aim for. We may not believe in the outcome of our goals or choices, we should still strive to reach them. We may not even believe in our goals bringing us happiness or accomplishment. We cannot escape falling, or failing in things that happen, but we can get back up and try again. From young ages we are brought up to build up a self esteem through  battling friendships, competitions and making mistakes. We always have a fear that we aren't good enough or we are going to disappoint, loose or never reach what we were reaching for. If we let somebody else design and control our self esteem, we will never fully value our self worth or know our true beliefs and goals. We have to go through obstacles to overcome the barriers which we face in life, in order to find ourselves. We have to mark our territory and stand the grounds so we define ourselves. 

Remember that it isn't possible to be better than everyone else and we put ourselves down because of this. We feel insecure and failed when we aren't as good as the next person. By building up your own self worth and respect, you shouldn't feel this. It is bound to happen, but at the end of the day we need to address the fact we are who we are. 

The purpose of this was to inform everybody that you shouldn't let anybody else define you as a person. Value yourself, before you let anybody else give you a false perception of value. You have to find your self worth. Other people and substances can fill the void of emptiness and questioning who you are as a individual. But only you can find the limits which you hold inside. 

You all are worth so much. Never forget to be true to you. Respect yourself. 

BlurOfBeauty.