SoCS: Average|Imperfection is Beauty

Ever felt like there is a constant pressure to be picture perfect at all times? Ever felt like staying in those comfortable pajamas and baggy tees even though you got guests coming over? Ever felt like throwing things at people when they say, “You going out wearing that?”

If yes, welcome aboard! If no, stop lying!

There is incoherent murmuring at the back of my mind every time I step out. I feel like I am being checked out and judged on whether I have dressed up or down, whether I have mixed and matched perfectly or whether I have done justice to what has been given to me! When I am walking on the road, I feel like I am walking on some runway. The roads are lined with hoardings advertising perfect models cajoling you into being the next diva, store windows attractively dressed with a range of products that you apparently need, and colorful fliers that promise to take that one stubborn inch off your waist!

Walk into any store, you’ll see a woman moaning about her imperfect neck, breasts, waist, hips, legs, hair. Walk into the next one to see a man fretting over the seemingly feminine smelling fragrances and cosmetic products. Look into the closet, at the clothes saved for the day we lose a size. There is a shelf of protein supplements gathering dust. Not to forget, the how-to books we religiously sought out and now have dog pee on them.

The thin girl thinks she has a flat chest, the plump girl thinks she has a big bum, the athlete thinks she has no shape! And how do they come to these conclusions? Oh, the kind fashionista, a Cosmo test, Jennifer Aniston’s proportions and the world in general. The men aren’t spared either. Lifestyle magazines are full of “Whether size matters?” and “How to last longer”. We just can’t win!

Am I saying that we should chuck the make up out of the window and cancel the zumba classes we so enthusiastically signed up for? No! I love showing off that new dress in those heels and I have no qualms over hiding that blemish with a BB cream (Or is it CC? DD?). While I am all for embracing my curves (or lack of them), I don’t want to hide behind them.

I am tired of standing out! I want to be average! I want to blend into the world and backgrounds and breathe easy. At times, not being above average is healthy and liberating. Being average on the outside gives me freedom to stand out from the inside – within my core!

I deserve to accept myself to be the way I am even if it is the undefined “average”. I don’t want to undergo a hundred changes to become someone else’s above average. I don’t want to be pointed at because I chose not to conform and just be in my skin – however freckled, dry and patchy it maybe! I want to laugh insanely and not fret over the imperfect photograph. Because I love myself the way I am – a rockstar and God’s gift to humanity!

Well… Almost 🙂

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Written for SoCS Prompt. Feedback very much appreciated 🙂

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