It’s Friday, which means it’s time for another Meet Me At This Moment for Five Minute Friday post! I spend the last hour of Thursday chatting it up with a group of authentic and inspiring Five Minute Friday bloggers on Twitter (#FiveMinuteFriday #fmfparty). One minute past midnight EST Friday, Lisa-Jo Baker gives us a single word prompt and we all write a blog post centered around that word. We write for five minutes, and five minutes only! In the wjords of Lisa, this is “unscripted. unedited. real.” You meet me at this moment in time…my thoughts and opinions, my joys and sorrows, my dilemmas and dreams. And I receive one of the greatest gifts ever…a regular outlet for processing and expressing my thoughts without constantly editing myself. This is my life, my perspective, unfiltered.
The word of the week is AFRAID.
I watched them in the gym on Wednesday.
Like robots, walking across the gym floor. One arm up, one leg up. The other arm up, other leg up.
They carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. Balls over their heads. Up, down. Up, down. Lunge. Lunge. Balls over heads. Up and over. Up and over. Never letting it go.
Revelation Song played on my iPod.
As they sat, I caught a glimpse of souls.
The woman in red at the end? Full of insecurity. Isolates herself, as if she doesn’t want to be noticed.
And the one with the cute logo on her shirt? A people pleaser. She’s been that way her whole life.
The woman with the perfect braid and the chest that seems too big to be real? She’s all about perfection. Always trying, harder and harder to meet the unattainable standard.
And the woman in green that carries herself as if she’s not so sure? She’s experienced a lot of pain and she hurts. She’s compared herself and she doesn’t meet the standard. She’s a survivor, but she feels inferior.
I crossed paths with this magazine. GQ. For men. Beyonce on the cover. Her body perfect. Seriously, perfect. She had her first baby just a year ago, just a couple weeks before I had my third.
I struggle to take off the three pounds I gained at Christmas, and now an extra pound on top of that, leaving me still seven pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. And this Beyonce? She’s already on the cover making it look all easy and she’s perfect.
The men reading this magazine? They see Beyonce, knowing full well she gave birth last year. Do men, in their heart of hearts, wish we looked like that? And the women who cross paths with these images? Do they see Beyonce, also knowing full well she gave birth last year, and expect themselves to look just as perfect? Even though it’s near impossibility?
To carry the weight of the world on our shoulders is a burden too heavy to bear. I’m afraid we can’t live up to your standard, GQ. For Beyonce probably has a personal chef and a personal trainer and a nanny that helps care for her child every day, and a butler and a maid who tend to every whim.
I must ignore these images of perfection, because they are not real. Women bearing the weight of the world are full of insecurity, inferiority. They want to please, they want to perfect. And it’s not going to happen. We can’t be perfect. We aren’t perfect. So stop making us afraid.
There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 1 Corinthians 15:40
Amy
we do it to ourselves, don’t we…we set ourselves up for failure. ::SIGH::
I’m with you. let’s not fear Truth and embrace reality. We’re His. He’s mine. And He’s coming to get me one day.
{HUGS}
Thank you Nikki. Your words inspire me and as always, are so kind and thoughtful. Blessings and can’t WAIT to meet you inRL!
Thanks for your words. Body image issues prevail everywhere..one thing that helps me is to remember that I too have been like any of those “women” you talked about, striving and trying – but, thankfully, Jesus shows us another way. Thanks again. Blessings.
Thanks for stopping by Julie. I just checked out your post from yesterday, and looks like we were on the same wavelength! I think you make VERY valid points. I have been concerned that my FMF post this week was just a tiny peek into my much bigger stance on body image, exercise, health, media, and how that all relates to faith. This topic deserves more attention than 5 minutes of writing time, so I may choose to address it in future posts when I can share my full thoughts. You touched on my worry about this post…that my comments about the “other” women may have sounded judgmental. I did not intend to come off as self righteous, as I have just as many feelings of inferiority, insecurity, perfectionism, and people pleasing as any other woman. I just hate all the pressure to be pencil thin in our culture, and hate for that to be the primary driver of womens’ exercise and eating behaviors, when in fact, exercise is one of the best things we can do for our mental health, well being, and overall health.
I’m one those people who do not have the genetic makeup to be naturally slim and be society’s or Insurance company’s ideas of “Normal Size”. I have always felt a bit insecure around “Normal” sized people. Now at age 63 I have discovered a ‘Life Style”, not diet, that I truly believe will help me reach my “Bucket List”weight and fitness goals before I kick the bucket. With God’s help and “My Fitness Pal” I’m on the right track… I’m calling it “The Not Impossible Journey”. Thanks for your post Amy… you have shown me that even “Normal Sized” People struggle with self image. We all, both Women and Men, want to be perfect… We believers know that some day we will have “Heavenly Bodies”. Until then I will work with this one. BTW, Even Beyonce has perfection issues… She lip synced the National Anthem at the Inaugural because she wanted it to be perfect and was worried that the extreme cold weather would effect her singing. Have a wonderful week!
Oh this speaks to my heart. Just last week I cancelled my gym membership. Not because I didn’t need it (I’ve a few more than 7lbs to loose) but because I was using it as a way to become something I’m not. I didn’t like the person my soul was becoming on the treadmill or eliptical. And every time I looked into my eyes in the workout mirrors I saw a reflection of inadequacy – which is so NOT how God sees me… Thank you for your words and that verse! That verse so what I needed to hear!
Tonya, I’m glad the verse was just what you needed today. Good for you taking action to change something that was making you feel less than you know you are. I hope you find another outlet for exercise and refreshment, one that makes you feel great and love all of who you are. Blessings to you Tonya.
All those illusions of magazine perfection are not real. I needed this reminder – not so much about magazine pictures, but about people I encounter on a regular basis that seem “perfect.” It is an illusion – just as the magazine. When I compare myself to them w/ their best foot forward, I am comparing myself to real-life air-brushing.
REALLY good point Amanda! You never know what’s going on in the background of anybody’s life. We can only make judgements based on what we see, but there is so much more unseen.