inspiration from MissRepresentation

The latest newsletters I've received from MissRepresentation.org have dealt with how women view and try to enhance their health in the new year.

In my other blog (http://katybrandes.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/looking-good/), I took on the subject.  This one is admittedly more of a "rant" blog, but I'll try to tone it down a bit today.  Women usually compliment other women only on how they look.  "Oh, I love your hair."  "That outfit is so cute!"  "Have you been working out?  You look great!"  That's the way it is.  To the reverse, "You look tired," translation "You look like shit."  

It doesn't make it right.  It just is what it is (I hate saying that).  So my challenge before was to reach out of my comfort zone by telling the women around me something positive for a change.  It was different for me, because I honestly don't pay many compliments in general.  How rewarding to see the smiles on people's face or hear their words of gratitude for the simplest of kind words on another person's part.  In these times of boob jobs and Botox, actresses over-dosing and dying, girls working their way to the stripper pole, and misogynists expecting women to fall all over them, it's no surprise the notion of perfection has become so warped.

This time around is about combating the notion of perfection (see excerpt below).  We set standards for ourselves that are quite impossible to attain, and physical perfection can become an obsession.  Watching waifs in ads, movies and television doesn't help matters either.  

There is no way to become a size two, if your body is not tiny to begin with, unless you completely starve yourself to death or take something to make it happen.  Either way helps destroy your health.  Hell, over-exercising can do the same thing.  Good thing I'm never going to have that problem.  Don't they say (whoever they are) the average size of the American woman is actually 14?  I want to believe that's true.  

"This week's Get Healthy action is about giving yourself the gift of self-love and acceptance. It's time to stop being so hard on yourself, to let go of "perfectionism," and to celebrate your authenticity. Take 10 minutes this week to step back, breathe and appreciate who you are and where you are in your life. Write down or think of three things you love about your appearance, your personal life, and your professional life. "

So here goes:

1) I love that I have the greatest (and funnest) friends a person could find.

2) My job is where I feel I need to be at this point in my life, and I've never felt that way before.

3) Even though I'm not content with the way I look, I so appreciate my health.  There are so many other ways, like being sick or obese, that could make a person feel so much worse.

And that brings it all around to gratitude.  I appreciate these three things so much in my life, as well as my family's health, too.  There is not much more that can bring a person down than having someone close to them be ill, except them being sick.  With age comes great appreciation of these simplest of things.  

R.I.P. Brittany Murphy

Have a (*insert cliche here) New Year!

After a remarkably memorable vacation to St. Pete Beach, Florida before the Christmas holiday, it is hard to reconnect to the responsibilities involved in day-to-day life.  Resuming the routine of existence is so disjointed compared to my previous two weeks of waking up with no alarm clock's warning, performing my daily online circuit, taking a nap, and then staying up late with no self-imposed television limits.

It was wonderful to wake up on vacay and look out the window to white sand and rolling surf.  I could even overlook the marauding sky rats with that view.  It was especially a treat to celebrate my sister's 50th birthday in a seeming paradise such as the one we enjoyed.  My favorite part was our jaunt in the ocean waves, shallow but powerful all the same.  It will be awhile before I laugh that hard again.  It was fun to be goofy at the pool with my sisters and go out on the open ocean aboard Stonebraker's boat.    

Alas, after our return home and usual after-Christmas let down, 2012 tinkled in with nary a tiny ring, or more so with the Cajun vibed "True Blood" theme.  I finished the season marathon on NYE by myself, but that's okay -- because I had to know what happened!  All the death was totally unforgivable, thank you so much Charlaine Harris (fuckin' Sookie!), but at least it "sucked" the new year in for me.  

Now we're (the proverbial "we") back to the same old, same old, and that's not so bad.  My little comedian son is my joy, and he comes up with something new every day.  I'm going to try to write more and travel somewhere again this year, too.

So I hope to 1) not get so entangled in what I haven't done for our home and concentrate instead on what I actually DO for it & 2) continue to establish a peaceful balance I so hope for in my life.

I also plan to stay more informed about civic issues that interest me, i.e. hydro-fracking regulations.  There was a great article called Rigged by Josh Harkinson in Mother Jones magazine, January/February 2012 issue.