Anyone seen it? Thoughts?

[maeggieakamegan]

At my gym they have a movie theater room where there's stationary bikes, treadmills, elliptical machines etc.

 

Anyway, the movie they had playing last night was called Beastly ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1152398/?ref_=sr_4 ), and although it was very rudimentary as far as plots go; it brings up an interesting topic.

 

Self-image, how we see ourselves vs. how others see us.

 

Everyone here has different opinions about this topic (at least from what I've read thus far here on NF), but what I'm interested in is getting perspective of people's own hang ups involving their own self-image.

 

The whole point of "leveling up" is to become the best person we can possible be (not just about fitness but other aspects as well), yet that doesn't account for the current state of mind that we have as a result of our past experiences no matter how far we've come.

 

Case in point, I'll admit I still have "fat mentality". I'll be walking around, strutting my stuff, feeling awesome and BAM, it hits me like a ton of bricks "You still need to lose X amount of pounds, you aint' shit". Granted when that happens, I beat the living hell out of that bitch voice (mentally of course) and move on but eventually it will still come back to yell at me again and another round we go.

 

I've learned my triggers and have changed the way I handled my emotions regarding this issue, but I feel like the voice will always be there. The only thing I can control is how I react to those thoughts and to keep going.

 

Comments, experiences, viewpoints, opinions, etc?

[I-Jo]

Everyone has fat days- bad days crazy days- bad hair days.

 

I'm fucking fabulous.  Then there is that one time I sit in my car waering a dress and look at my legs and almost burst into tears.... because they look absolutely gargantuan. 

 

It's awful. but it happens.   I go on and do epic things with my useless sometimes fat body.... and then I don't feel so bad.  Sometimes I put on my favorite heels- comfie jeans- throw on that make up do my hair whatever it is that makes ME feel better.  I put on my favorite jam and dance like no one is watching- I feel epic- I feel awesome- I am alone in my world and it's glorious.  Then I go back to just being me- normal awesome me. 

 

It's a struggle to have that PMA all the time- but it's just not realistic to maintain that level of awesome 24/7.... takes a lot of energy- and sometimes you come down from there.  And that's okay.  

 

Just gotta get back up and do some more awesome shit the next day

[bigm141414]

I try not to look in the mirror. Does wonders for my self image I figure if I don't see myself I don't have anything to feel bad about. 

 

 

(seriously, I spend maybe 3 min in front of a mirror, and most of that time is combing and shaving) 

[maeggieakamegan]

I try not to look in the mirror. Does wonders for my self image I figure if I don't see myself I don't have anything to feel bad about. 

 

(this may come out wrong, so I apologize beforehand)

 

Avoiding the issue doesn't solve it, just puts it on the back burner for another day.

 

I look in the mirror, ALL THE TIME. No, I'm not vain, even when I get done with a workout and am covered in sweat and my hair is a rat's nest with snot coming out of my left nostril.....ok that went a little too far. Point is I'm looking at my results.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say, how we mentally, rather than physically, perceive ourselves.

 

I've witness my own triumphs, but that still doesn't change the fact that I still have to battle my own fucked up insecurities about how I once WAS and have it not affect me now and in the future.

[I-Jo]

pffffaaa I check the mirror all the time...

 

make up hair- shirt tuck- stocking seams.

 

It's important to me that I look put together.

[Metalhead]

Throughout my life, I've had horrible self-image issues. I constantly thought I looked worse than I did, which I feel became a constant self-fulfilling prophecy throughout my teenage years and early twenties. I feel like the more I looked in the mirror and talked bad about myself and told myself there is no hope, the more my apathy would conquer and I would become that hopeless person. Then something clicked. For me, it actually started by a stranger telling me his success story at a business conference I attended. I started to say to myself, if he did who says I can't.

 

That nagging voice of doubt was with me throughout my journey, but I found that the mirror can be an enemy and a friend. When I look at it, I still find things I may not like enjoy about myself, and when I see those things I tend to get the "you can't do this attitude". It's equivalent to the voice you hear and keeps telling me that I "shouldn't even try" "why bother" "so much further to go" etc. etc.

 

The thing that helps me through these moments is to find the things the mirror shows me that are my body's success stories. Some of mine are even relatively small such as the thing my "YOU WILL DO THIS ATTITUDE" calls my handsome new jawline, or my improving shoulder definition. That voice is the one that encourages me on by saying things such as "this is why you do this" "keep going" and "screw that other voice in your head, he's an a**hat".

[insanity]

(this may come out wrong, so I apologize beforehand)

 

Avoiding the issue doesn't solve it, just puts it on the back burner for another day.

 

I look in the mirror, ALL THE TIME. No, I'm not vain, even when I get done with a workout and am covered in sweat and my hair is a rat's nest with snot coming out of my left nostril.....ok that went a little too far. Point is I'm looking at my results.

 

I guess what I'm trying to say, how we mentally, rather than physically, perceive ourselves.

 

I've witness my own triumphs, but that still doesn't change the fact that I still have to battle my own fucked up insecurities about how I once WAS and have it not affect me now and in the future.

 

I have to disagree in part, it's not really avoiding it if you don't look in a mirror. Instead of focusing on how you look, you focus on how you feel and that shows...

 

The problem with that is we're our own worst critic. While it might be a physical attribute, the way you perceive is mental, and those little "faults" aren't as big as many people make them out to me. Then the spots that we're proud of, we tend to downplay. There's a great video on this

 

An article of a lady who stopped looking at mirrors.. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/04/bride-no-mirrors-year/2126731/

 

We've become a society that's becoming too focused on looks in my opinion, I think we all could use a few less mirrors... :-)

[maeggieakamegan]

I have to disagree in part, it's not really avoiding it if you don't look in a mirror. Instead of focusing on how you look, you focus on how you feel and that shows...

 

The problem with that is we're our own worst critic. While it might be a physical attribute, the way you perceive is mental, and those little "faults" aren't as big as many people make them out to me. Then the spots that we're proud of, we tend to downplay. There's a great video on this

 

An article of a lady who stopped looking at mirrors.. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/04/bride-no-mirrors-year/2126731/

 

We've become a society that's becoming too focused on looks in my opinion, I think we all could use a few less mirrors... :-)

 

Thank you, I really appreciate it.

[tushfeathers]

I have to disagree in part, it's not really avoiding it if you don't look in a mirror. Instead of focusing on how you look, you focus on how you feel and that shows...

 

The problem with that is we're our own worst critic. While it might be a physical attribute, the way you perceive is mental, and those little "faults" aren't as big as many people make them out to me. Then the spots that we're proud of, we tend to downplay. There's a great video on this

 

An article of a lady who stopped looking at mirrors.. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/04/bride-no-mirrors-year/2126731/

 

We've become a society that's becoming too focused on looks in my opinion, I think we all could use a few less mirrors... :-)

I think this is one of the coolest things I have seen. Dove does great projects, and this as got to be the best representation of how women see themselves, and how much the perception of what we think are flaws has devalued anything good. One of my favorite lines from Fight Club is "May I never be complete, may I never be content, may I never be perfect" because, to me, it means never chasing someone else's idea of what is acceptable or perfection. Women and men are constantly held to such high, unattainable standards, and it is ridiculous that more people don't support each other and build up people rather than breaking them down. You may never have Hugh Jackman's abs, or Angelina Jolie's mouth... Tina Fey said it best...

 

<a data-pin-do="embedPin" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/226165212507591331/"></a>

[insanity]

Thank you, I really appreciate it.

 

Glad to have helped... :-)

 

I think this is one of the coolest things I have seen. Dove does great projects, and this as got to be the best representation of how women see themselves, and how much the perception of what we think are flaws has devalued anything good. One of my favorite lines from Fight Club is "May I never be complete, may I never be content, may I never be perfect" because, to me, it means never chasing someone else's idea of what is acceptable or perfection. Women and men are constantly held to such high, unattainable standards, and it is ridiculous that more people don't support each other and build up people rather than breaking them down. You may never have Hugh Jackman's abs, or Angelina Jolie's mouth... Tina Fey said it best...

 

<a data-pin-do="embedPin" href="http://pinterest.com/pin/226165212507591331/"></a>

 

That's kind of how I try and live my life, most guys my age are looking in the mirror, freakin out about the gray hair they see. I see em and just kinda shrug my shoulders... can't beat time, no sense in struggling to fight it.

 

I can completely agree on the standards we're held too, which is ironic given the models that display those standards are airbrushed all to hell, so even they don't look like the pictures.

 

Speaking of standards... I was reading that the swaddling cloth that Will and Kate use for their baby, is now selling out at stores all over the world. I had to laugh...

[CrisciMalosh]

I guess I am a little weird right now... I am at a weird age... at 28 I am tired of being carded every time I buy cough syrup (don't mind being carded at the liquor store, no way I look 35 yet). I would like some grey hair, or a wrinkle or something, so that I show my age a little more. (I honestly get mistaken for a teen mom, it is REALLY annoying). 

 

As for body image, I don't know that I will ever see myself the way my husband and kids see me, and I am okay with that. I just strive to see myself a bit better than I do now.