Friend Friday: Body Image

Source: purebarre.wordpress.com

We're talking about body image on this week's FBFF.

1.Since you started blogging has your image of yourself changed?

Violette: Not really. Sure, readers leave us incredibly nice comments (thank you so much!), but I don't think that what other people think has that much impact on me. I don't feel better with myself now that I'm blogging, neither do I feel worse.

Rose: I’m not sure. I think all the struggles I have with my body will always be there, but the large amounts of comments do help to make me feel better on a short-term basis. But I think that in order to feel better on a long-term basis, there’s more work to do than just taking pictures of myself almost every day.

2. Are you self-conscious about any aspect of yourself? If so, do you go out of your way to avoid it or do you post it/talk about it anyway?

Violette: Of course I am self-conscious about A LOT of aspects of myself! Honestly, who isn't? But I won't talk about that on the blog. In fact, once my mom told me: "If you don't talk about it, people won't probably notice" and I believe she's right. Instead, I try to focus on the things I like about myself.

Rose: Of course. Who doesn’t? Like Violette, I don’t want to talk about it openly because I’m scared that it’s all the readers are going to see afterwards. If, for example, I say that I hate my hands, all readers will focus on my hands. I guess I have a don’t ask, don’t tell policy with my body.

3. Based on how you are feeling now, what do you think the future holds in the evolution of your body image?

Violette: Hum. I don't know. I hope I'll get more and more comfortable with my own body.

Rose: I have a hard time staying on track when I try to eat healthy or visit the gym. It’s a motivation problem. So I really don’t know what the future holds because I don’t know just how far my motivation can go. On the other hand, sometimes I think to myself that if I have yet to lose those extra pounds, maybe that deeply I don’t feel so bad with them on.

4. Do you photograph yourself for your blog? If so, how do you feel about the experience when you're having your picture taken? If you choose not to post pictures of yourself, what prompted that decision?

Violette: I do photograph myself for the blog. At first it was really scary. But then I realized people aren't that much focusing on my body... well clearly not as I can be.

Rose: I do photograph myself (well, I do bribe my boyfriend to photograph me in exchange of cookies) and it’s definitely the hardest part. Because sometimes I have long days at work, sometimes I have fat days, sometimes I have pimple days. And all I think is ‘people are going to think I’m so ugly and delete the blog from their readers forever’. In general I like having my picture taken but when I feel like it’s something I have to do, it just doesn’t feel the same.

5. What would you want every person who struggles with body image to take to heart?

Violette: Always remember: We are our worst critic.

Rose: What you see is not what the rest of the world sees. And if you try to achieve perfection, you are going to fail because there is no such thing –we’re all different in our own ways, and that’s what we should exploit.