Image Problems

Firstly, let me apologise for my blogging hiatus. There has been so much going on for me this year (particularly school wise) and I just really haven’t been able to muster up the energy to blog. I should hopefully be back full time though! Anyway, my friend recently told me about what are known as pro ana websites. She herself is trying to lose some weight and in trying to find some tips she came across one of these heartbreaking websites. As I read some of them, the comments I read there weighed deeply on my heart and I felt I had to give my two cents on the matter.

For those who don’t know, pro ana websites are websites that encourage and promote eating disorders, particularly anorexia. These websites give tips on how women, and men too, can starve themselves in order to get thinner. These are some heartbreaking extracts I found on one of the websites;

“I remind myself every chance I remember that I am too fat right now, and how disgusting my body looks. I lift up my shirt in the bathroom mirror,  a body check every morning. I look at my lack of thigh gap, the creases in my stomach fat, etc. I let the last number reported by the scale flash continually in the back of my mind, reminding myself that I can do SO MUCH BETTER.”

“Plan your eating (because we really should eat SOMETHING most days if we want to stay alive and actually enjoy our new bodies) around your usual binges so you are less likely to binge out of deprivation until your hunger tolerance increases.”

I cannot begin to imagine the way an eating disorder can make someone feel. So please understand that I am not writing this to judge anyone, but instead to hopefully reach out to someone out there and tell them that it doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t have to go through everyday hating yourself and your body, starving yourself and putting yourself at risk in an attempt to be skinny. From the beginning of the Bible, we are told how God created mankind in His image. The way that we are ladies (and maybe gentleman) is a representation of someone so much greater. He does not make mistakes. I understand that in some instances people may need to gain or lose weight for health purposes and that’s ok. Where we can improve our bodies, we must strive to do so as they are the temple of the Holy God. We must not however allow our temples to be debilitated. It truly saddens me that the brokenness that many experience due to image issues is being spread over the internet and other media in this manner. Instead of reaching out to those who are suffering from these issues we constantly judge other people on their looks. I wish there was a way to get pro ana websites blocked off the internet. I understand we live in a tech savvy world but this is one of those cases where technology is poisoning our lives. If the desire to look good makes you jeopardize your health, it’s just not worth it.

I believe self love is of great importance. Indeed others overdo it and become prideful but there is great need to look at who we are outwardly and love ourselves. The media today tries to make us believe we should be perfect but human beings have fallen so far from perfection that it is a goal that is impossible to attain. Unfortunately many people are left chasing something they can never catch, and destroying themselves in the process. We are not perfect, but Christ is and in Him we can rest all our efforts of trying to be perfect. In knowing that we ourselves aren’t perfect, may we also not judge the imperfectness of others. Oftentimes it is the things we say to others that breed damage on their sense of self. Let us learn to love the inside more than the outside and to appreciate people because of who they are inwardly whether they are a size zero or sixteen.

To anyone out there that may be struggling with their image, struggling with eating disorders or anything else, my hope is that you may seek and find healing in Jesus Christ and support from others. Please reach out for help wherever you can find it. Don’t harm yourself chasing down a sense of perfection that you will never be able to attain. Take care of your body, it is a gift to you from God. Yet let us not forget that these bodies are not forever.

God loves you!