Body+ and mental health for all

I love pinterest, it's way better than having a million websites bookmarked into 99435784 folders on my browser. Recipes, crafts, things to make me giggle, the list just goes on and on.

Tonight however as I was looking at the health and fitness section I found some things that really bothered me so I grabbed a sample of the images that I took issue with and I'm just going to do a quick rundown here. 

I saw this one pinned in a ton of places and it seemed that half of the pinners found it amusing and were very serious about it with comments that were rife with insecurity and jealousy.

I admire anyone who can find a means of motivation that works for them but all I personally see when I look at this is the wrong kind of pressure. Non scale victories should be far more important than the number you see, no one should tie up their self worth in a number.

Well this sounds like a really good way to get seriously injured. I'm all for not quitting when things get a little difficult but you can't ignore your body's cues that you need a break. 

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that the picture was not actually taken during the conversation that the texts depicts. However, when is it ever ok to judge another person's body like that?

Why can't skinny be sexy? Why can't muscles be sexy as well? Why can't sexy be more of an attitude attribute vs. an appearance one? 

Why do you have to suck it in at all? Just accept yourself. Focusing your energy on some ideal body image as your end game instead of your health, and perhaps your self confidence seems like a great way to burn out. 

I'm sure I'll be really proud when I'm sidelined by an injury that could have been avoided by listening to my body's cues that I needed to stop. 

How about neither? Some people naturally come looking either way and there's no reason to shame anyone for it. 

This one made my blood boil. There's a pretty good chance that if you're not comfortable with yourself then you're getting naked with someone else for reason you might later come to regret. If you're worried about a partner rejecting you for what you look like naked that's a whole nother can of worms. 

And finally this one really bugs me. I know a lot of people who see this as a positive thing. "Finally a campaign that tells us we don't need to look like Kate Moss to be pretty/sexy/attractive!"  But all it's really doing is holding up another body type that could be construed as equally as unattainable as the stick thin supermodel.

Health is what we should be striving for, not a physical ideal. I know I'm not alone in these thoughts but I just stumbled upon part of the internet tonight full of impressionable people putting these ideals up on pedestals and it frustrated me. I've been there, I've done that, I know what it's like to put that kind of pressure on yourself.  

It's taken me a very long time to find myself in the headspace that I'm in now so I know it's not easy. I just find all of this so irresponsible.