This thing called body image is an essential aspect of your life and
your self-expression. It should never be ignored or made insignificant.
Your body image is essentially your power within.

Between the ages of thirteen and sixteen I felt horrible about myself.
On a scale of one to ten, I would have rated my confidence and body
image about a two or three. First, my mother was tragically killed in an
automobile accident, leaving me alone at the very time that I needed her
most. Then, it seemed almost overnight I grew to my present height of
five feet eleven inches tall. No matter how much Grandmamma tried to
fatten me up I could only muster up one hundred and ten pounds—soaking
wet. The only body parts that seemed to grow were my hands and feet.

I had horrible posture, none of my clothes fit properly, my hair was a
big bushy mess and I wore glasses that always seemed to look crooked. My
big feet hung over my shoes while I held on to myself as I walked—as
though I would fall over if I let go. Every girl had confidence—except
me, it seemed.

Yes, I had big problems, but the picture that I held in my mind's eye of
myself was even bigger; it was negative and self-destructive. That's
what "body image" is, a picture. That's right; it's like to a
three-dimensional photograph that we hold in the mind's eye of our
body—it's holographic. This perception is psychological, involving our
emotions and our imagination. And just when you've become comfortable
with hating one thing about your body, something else comes along and
you add that to the list. Yes, that picture in your mind's eye is ever
changing.

In order to effectively understand body image, it is necessary to first
understand that the foundation or the cause of body image lives within
aesthetics—in other words, an artistically beautiful or pleasing
appearance—and, let's face it, most of us want to be beautiful, or
attractive, or at least look good.

You know you like it when someone says to you, "Wow, you look good!"

How you determine beauty and the feelings derived from your perceptions
about beauty are subjective. Consequently, body image is a biased view
that we make about our own bodies, combined with what we think other
people think about our looks and the reaction we get from others. Now, I
know all of that sounds crazy, but it's true, and I'll explain next
time.

Are you ready to embrace your uniqueness?
Chloé Taylor Brown
www.chloetaylorbrown.com