Permanently and inevitably, flawed

This blog contains content that might be triggering to some. It talks about a few grave topics like body image and bodyshaming. Please proceed only if you wish to :)

Indians were generally pretty normal, there was not any restriction on anyone wearing anything. Invasion after invasion, our standards of beauty and practices warped into something unhealthy.

British left, but this practice or rather now, the restriction of wearing short clothes remained (I mean so did their colonized beauty standards but that's a whole other story). Since then, year after year, the same story has been repeated. Keep in mind that it's not even been a hundred years since freedom, but we've come a long, long way. 

I think the only reason anyone wears certain types of clothes is because they feel comfortable in it. That's the way it should be. Wear what you want for yourself, not for others, not for your family or for someone on the street that's oogling you. Clothes are based on comfort, it matters what you find comfortable and no one's opinion on it matters.

But all that is rather hard in practice than in principle. There's no trick to feeling comfortable in your own skin, because you'll never be perfect for anyone. But it may help to know that you're not alone. I conducted a survey (well not a survey I just asked a bunch of my friends), about their experience with bodyshaming and the ages around which they were told to cover up or to eat more/less. Most of them were around the age of 10 when these experiences happened. Isn't that too young of an age to even process these things? If not their own family members, their relatives or teachers had inculcated these ideas into their minds.

But in the end, I don't think we can blame our parents or families either. This is just the way they were brought up, this is the way they were taught to live. And this isn't just an issue for women, it affects men too, just in a different way. A man's character is judged by what clothes he wears, they're taught that it's improper to wear shorts or they're taught to build their bodies because that's what a man is  supposed to do. People will always expect you to look a certain way, dress a certain way and act a certain way. There will always be expectations and if you don't go according to those expectations, you're rebellious.

We're all too cruel to our bodies, standing in front of the mirror. Gazing at those extra rolls of cellulite or our boney figures. Turning around to see the stretch marks, running our hands over our bodies trying to sculpt it into an hourglass. We wish we could change ourselves, draw ourselves to be this person who doesn't have any flaws or any imperfections. But it's not possible. 

We were given our bodies to harbour our souls, the only way a soul can live, is through a body. Once a body has lived to it's capacity, it dies, and the soul wanders into another skeleton. This body is our portal into this wonderful world. It's what helps us feel the rays of the sun on our face, the wind in our hair and laugh out loud at jokes. 

It's not bad to hate the way you look, but you have to overcome it because you are more than your body. It's not easy, and there will be days it's hard, but the more you embrace yourself (yes it's a cliche i couldn't think of anything else), the easier things become.