Self-Image

Why is it that girl as young as 8 are concerned with the way they look? Why does it matter... they are 8 years old. Kids even younger than that are starting to be concerned with the way they look and it doesn't help that parents want their kid or kids to be the most stylish on the block.

I just cannot get over it. It makes me mad and upset mainly because I was constantly criticized for the way I looked, not just at school but sometimes at home from family members. My great-grandmother was very materialistic and there was a certain image in her head that she wanted everyone to look like and if you didn't look like she wanted, oh boy would she tell you.

I never really thought anything of my weight or how I looked until I was about 13 and I was told that I was never going to get a boyfriend by looking the way I did.

That's really hard to hear at the age of 13, especially when you went to a Jr. High where it was all about what you were wearing and how small you were, rather than personality and achievements.

For years, I have had a self-image that was lower than dirt. I went to Disney weighing 220 pounds. It was hard to handle walking up 17 flights of stairs every day and walking about 2 miles every day. And it wasn't until I had to buy a size 20 jeans that something snapped.

I didn't want to be that "fat friend". You know the one that you bring along because you feel sorry for them. Yeah, I was done! And it also helped that one of my roommates was psychotic about the way she looked and told me on a daily basis that I was ugly and fat.

So I was sick of hearing what everyone thought and was sick of looking down at my stomach that was protruding over my belt and I got up and gave those stairs my all!

But the sad part is, I do believe that someone would have fallen in love with me or dated me or whatever even if I was still a seize 20. It would not be easy because with the weight came a lot of looks, a lot of harsh words and a really bad self-image.

I really have never been one to say or I think that I am pretty. I have people tell me that I am or they think I am and I never believe them. Even to this day, 2 years and 50 pounds lighter, I still have a hard time believing I am pretty or gorgeous or beautiful or even mediocre.

If it was not for the magazines and the articles people see on the news racks girls would not have a problem with self-image or self-esteem. These magazines airbrush to the extreme sometimes and girls, even women, get the idea that that body belongs to that celebrity and they then create a dire need to look like that celebrity. It’s a very unhealthy society that we have created.

Now I didn’t lose the weight because I thought I should look a certain way, I lost the weight because when I went to the doctor he told me I was severely obese for my stature and frame, and this was when I was about 19 or 20.

Those words rang in my ear for days.

I, Jordan Van Voorhees, was obese…

It’s a crazy feeling that I never want to have again.

In high school and even in Jr. High I was very athletic and loved to play soccer and be outdoors and just be active. But something happened, something inside of me turned off in about the 12^th grade and I just did not care anymore.

I know what happened but it’s not fair to blame someone else for my overeating and lack of exercising.

I don’t think anyone should ever go off of a magazine and say they want to look exactly or somewhat like the person on the magazine cover. I mean I can take a picture of myself and photoshop it to where I look like Britney Spears.

Not everyone can look like Cameron Diaz or Britney Spears. Heck, I can’t even look like my own sister because every body is different and responds differently to everything.

So don’t let anyone tell you you are not worth anything looking the way you do.

It really takes a lot of courage for someone to get up off the couch and turn their life around.

I could have stayed the way I was and still lived my life.

But I don’t think I would have ever been happy.

I think that losing the weight is what I needed to gain some self-confidence and a little bit of self-esteem.

Now, I believe that I have the willpower and drive to tone up my body and just be happy. Not that I am not happy with the way I look now because I am and I would be okay looking the way I do, but as a soccer coach and as a manager for a health food store I believe it is beneficial to not only my health but for my self-image and my self-worth.

It took me 20 years to think that I was worth anything. When I say I had no self-esteem and no self-confidence I mean zip, zero, nada! My whole life revolved around sports and I was still the fat kid out on the field that everyone felt sorry for, at least that’s how I felt. Twenty years to believe in myself.

Sometimes I still have those days where I look in the mirror and see nothing but a blob. You know, even after losing 50 pounds, I still have issues with my self-image. Not because of the tabloids or the TV programs, or even my BMI, but because I believe I should look a certain way and when I don’t or say I eat too much I really become distant from myself and I hate it and I am ready to change it.

Self-image is very important. If you don’t feel like you are worth anything, something hasn’t clicked in your mind for you to feel as important as you truly are.

I’m not saying go and get liposuction or anything like that, but if you are tired of looking in the mirror and seeing nothing, look again because I can guarantee you will see the most beautiful reflection.

I’m going to tell you you have to do anything about feeling better about yourself but I am here to say that even a little confidence will get you further than not having any at all.

Yes, you are beautiful just the way you are.

And no one is here to say you aren’t.

I’m just expressing my feelings toward the tabloids and magazines that portray women as a material thing rather than something that is very valuable.

Take it from someone who went 20 years thinking she was nothing but a piece of dirt.

You can get up and change who YOU want to be!

I believe in you, and so will everyone else.

You just have to believe in yourself and believe that you could change the world if you wanted to.

But my whole speel about kids thinking they need to lose weight is because I felt tortured as a kid feeling like I NEEDED to be this certain weight or to look a certain way and I don't think any child or really anyone should go through with that.

You have the power to change your self-esteem, but you have to WANT to in order TO DO...