Embrace 101

Self-love is tough. It’s an exercise that needs daily practice. Because many of us (myself included) are not quite there yet, this series will help both me and you to get the journey started. Welcome to the first chapter, it’s called Embrace 101: “We Got This”.

I consider myself a 90s kid and a millennial. Meaning I grew up in an analogue world and I’m currently trying to find my place in the digital bubble.

Let’s be honest. I’m struggling. Every. Single. Day. There, I said it. Acknowledging the fact that I don’t always love the way I look may not be a revelation to some people. The fact that I base selflove on my physical appearance might raise red flags. To me the acknowledgment feels liberating and scary at the same time. Liberating because expressing a negative emotion means creating awareness for it – and that is scary AF. It opens up Pandora’s box of questions: starting from “what defines beauty?” to “why do I need to be beautiful?”. Do you see where this is going? Me neither, which is exactly my point. Confusion is a big part of the problem. In order to detangle the mess that the American journalist Naomi Wolf called “The Beauty Myth”, I want to find answers to my questions and ultimately, get closer to selflove and acceptance in the process. But first things first.

Status Quo

Growing up as a young woman surrounded by social media and all its perfectionism and beauty madness can be toxic. I would lie if I told you I have never felt intimidated by the “perfect” bodies I saw in fashion magazines, on TV or on Instagram. But who can blame me, yells my inner feminist. As a woman, I grew up not only reduced to thinking my physical appearance is all I should care about. On top of that I should obey to a certain beauty standard that is impossible to fulfil. No wonder I feel overwhelmed. And as far as I know, I’m certainly not alone with this. There’s been numerous studies demonstrating that media consumption has negative effects on women’s body image and self-confidence. Considering that I spent many hours of the day browsing through Instagram, might reveal a masochistic tendency. There are so many factors holding me back from liking and accepting my body as it is. The beauty industry sectioning female bodies into “problematic areas” being just one of them. Even without blaming the media, there is a constant social pressure for women to “look beautiful”, no matter in which culture you live in. But we’ll get to that. 

Truth is, accepting and loving your body is anything but easy because society is telling you to hate it. A regular check-up among my girlfriends reveals that every female person I know feels insecure about their bodies. But why is that? Who is responsible for this and how can we change the way we see ourselves? With the first step creating awareness for the subject, the next would be education. 

For my German speaking friends, I highly recommend “Fuck Beauty” written by Nunu Kaller. Based on her personal story, the Austrian journalist analyzes why so many women feel unsatisfied with their bodies. My next read would be the aforementioned “Beauty Myth” by Naomi Wolf. Since it’s a classic of feminist literature, I thought I would give it a try and let you know how it goes. In the meantime, keep your head up and remember: we are all in this together.