Body Image
I've been battling with my weight all my adult life. Over the last 20 years, I've been varying from size 12 to size 18. It goes round in a cycle. I put on weight, I go on a diet, I lose the weight and feel good, but the weight always finds me again.
However, over the last couple of years I've come to terms with my body and all of its imperfections. Confidence has made a huge difference to my life recently. I believe confidence comes through maturity and wisdom, and there's no short cut to finding it.
This picture was taken by my dad on the day before my 41st birthday, and I am including it because I think it's a good contrast to the picture in my last post. There's over 35 years between this picture and the previous one. When I think about that, it makes me realise just what a long journey it's been between my being the little girl in that picture and the woman in this one.
The skirt in this picture is a recent purchase. I used to have several similar ones in my wardrobe, that my stylist made me get rid of during my wardrobe detox. So I know that she wouldn't approve, but I bought it anyway. Part of this confidence in the contemporary me is the conviction that if I like the way something looks, that's a good enough reason to wear it.
It's been over 18 months now since I had my styling session, and I'm a size larger now than I was then. So much of what the stylist picked out for me no longer fits. But I am comfortable with who I am, and I can say with confidence that right now, in my 40s, I'm at a good place in my life. I can probably count myself lucky because not everyone gets this far.
Life is short. You have to make what you can of it, and in the grand scheme of things, many of the trivialities we worry about – like putting on a few pounds – are really not important. The recent natural catastrophes in various parts of the world over the last few months have made me think about this quite a lot of late. None of us knows how many tomorrows we have left – so why waste today worrying about them?
