Читать книгу Beauty*Licious - Lisa Clark - Страница 18

Angel: Pink Lady and all round gorgeous girl, has killer curves.

Her trunk is most definitely packing junk and she looks really rather fabulous. Yet despite her Beyoncé-esque figure, she completely bought into the whole thin fantasy.

“…IT’S TRUE, I DID. I GO TO AN ALL-GIRL, SUPER-POSH BOARDING SCHOOL IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE-VILLE, WHERE THE PRESSURE TO FIT IN IS MUCHO-HIGH. THE HAIR-SWISHIN’, POUTY GIRL-TYPES GOT ME TO THINKING THAT IF ONLY I WERE THINNER LOTS OF THINGS WOULD CHANGE. SO I WENT ON A DIET. A CRAZY-ASSED DIET, THAT MEANT I DIDN’T EAT, LIKE, VIRTUALLY ANYTHING.

EXCEPT, BY THE THIRD WEEK I HAD BECOME ALL SILLY AND FORGETFUL AND BY WEEK FOUR I WAS SENT HOME FROM THE SUPER-POSH BOARDING SCHOOL BECAUSE I HAD FAINTED IN THE BATHROOM. MUCHO EMBARRASSMENTO. LUCKILY FOR ME, I WAS WEARING A MATCHING PAUL FRANK UNDERWEAR COMBO AT THE TIME–COULD YOU IMAGINE IF I’D MADE A BAD CHOICE OF UNDER GARMENTAGE THAT DAY? (NOTE TO SELF: AIN’T NEVER GONNA HAPPEN SISTA, YOU’RE A FASHIONISTA!)

WANTING TO CHANGE PART OF MY BODY WASN’T A PHYSICAL THING, IT WAS A SIGN OF MY SUPER LOW SELF-ESTEEM. I KNOW ITS HARD TO BELIEVE, WHAT WITH ME BEING ALL SASSY AND SELF-LOVIN’ NOW, BUT THE PRESSURE TO LOOK LIKE EVERYONE ELSE IN AN ALL-GIRL SCHOOL IS HUGE AND WHEN THE SO-CALLED NORM’ IS TO LOOK LIKE A SUPER-SKINNY WAIF GIRL, THAT PRESSURE CAN BECOME ALL-CONSUMING.

IT WASN’T UNTIL I LOVED MYSELF UP FOR BEING SO FABULOUSLY YOU-NIQUE THAT I WAS ABLE TO CHANGE MY BAD BODY TUDE TO A FIERCE, KICK-ASS, BEAUTY*LICIOUS TUDE. LETS FACE IT, WITH AN AFRO AS BIG AS MINE AND A BOOTY TO MATCH, I’D BE FOOLISH NOT TO WORK IT LIKE A 70’s DIVA, RIGHT?”

Y’see, Angel’s problem didn’t vanish once the weight had disappeared. Which, while rude and wrong, is an unfortunate fact. So if you’re hating your bum, or not digging your thighs–even if the banish-bad-bit fairy was able to, well, banish bad bits–your life wouldn’t instantly become A-list fabsville, all that would change is your clothes size.

Half the fun of growing up is waiting to find out what kind of woman you’ll become and, while I know it takes a whole lot of courage to love and accept the body you’ve got, when you do, life is significantly more Beauty*licious, I promise! So give it a go sweet thing…love the skin you’re in!

While Angel is now lovin’ herself up hugely, if you’ve got a friend who isn’t diggin’ who she is, or feels under pressure to look a certain way, she’s going to need a whole lot of girl-love from her Pink Ladies…

  Next time she says negative things about herself like: ‘My nose is too big’ or ‘my bum is huge’ don’t play along. Instead say: ‘I think it’s beautiful and I’m not going to get dragged into this body-bashing conversation with you.’

  Get her to look at her whole body rather than obsessing over one part. Set aside a whole weekend for window-shopping and at-home makeovers. Anything that involves treating yourselves like the sparkle-girls that you actually are.

  Ask her what she’d think if you were to say the kind of things she currently tells herself about you–this will help her see what a Negative Nina she’s being and that trashing herself is just not cool.