I started SHYB in October of 2010 as a project; as a blog where I’d collect information and stories dealing with body image. Everyone has different reasons for their low self-esteem; some have been brain washed by media and advertising, some were raised by their parents to believe that they should look a certain way, some were abused, some neglected, some bullied; we’ve all led very different lives and arrived at the same place, a place of insecurities, a place of dissatisfaction and sadness, a low place that makes us feel like we are undeserving of joy merely because of the way we look.
Today, I find this blog and it’s followers to be a part of a true revolution. It is a community of people who are absolutely supportive of each other and that is AMAZING. It’s a community of people searching for joy and confidence and ethics, some who’ve already found it and want to share it with everyone as well! Instead of picking each other apart, they pick each other up, when one falls, the others help. This is a blog and a community, where we rebel against the idea that we are supposed to hate our bodies, against the idea that we are SUPPOSED to look one way or another, a place where people are learning that just because we don’t fit a certain individual’s definition of beauty, doesn’t mean that we aren’t beautiful.
It’s not a quick fix, it takes a lot of work to change the way we think. But certain individuals would do well to focus more on changing their beliefs as opposed to changing how they look. Confidence is not a result of changing your appearance, it is a result of changing the way you think about yourself (and it’s absolutely FREE).
La Lupa.
Reminds me of the statue of the she-wolf and Romulus and Remus.
