It's a year ago yesterday that I started writing this blog. Can you believe that? My first blog was called Starting Out, and when I read it back I can't believe how different I was. I was worried that when I started my blog, people would read it and think I was weird. Now? I couldn't care less. I really, really don't care if people think it's weird.
I love my blog - I love having a say in the world, sharing my thoughts, my story, my hope, my musings. It never fails to amaze me that people actually care to read what I have to say. How cool is that!? People have watched me grow through my words, my thoughts and my actions. Thank you so much if you've been reading my blogs - whether you've been here from the very beginning or since yesterday, I still really, truly appreciate it.
My blogs used to be all about my musings and things I wanted to get out there. It was things that made me seem wise and in-the-know. But after a while, I decided I wanted my blog to be more personal. I wanted to share my story and make this an honest space people could come to and instantly feel like they know me like a friend; because, really, I'd love to be friends with all of you.
This is just a short blog to thank you for joining me on my journey. I love sharing it with you all. I can't believe it's been a year! I've grown so much as a person and I'm so thankful for that.
Lots of love to you all,
Ellie xxxx
Showing posts with label Growing Up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Growing Up. Show all posts
Saturday, 8 February 2014
Sunday, 19 January 2014
You're Beautiful
Everywhere we turn nowadays, there's a latest diet trend, the latest way to dress "cleverly", the best way to conceal your body and make it appear "slimmer". We are bombarded with photos of these "perfect" women in every single magazine, TV advert, clothes stores, etc. It's so tiring, all these women looking the same in every single picture that is shoved in our faces.
The pressure on women/girls these days to be thin, or to look a certain way, is immense. It disgusts me how people link being slim with being happy. "Slim" and "happy" are not synonymous. They do not work together - "slim" is not something we need to be happy.
I hate how we make losing weight and starvation such a fantastic thing in society these days. Women are constantly bombarded (I'm not saying it's just women, this is just my experience talking) with ways to "slim down" or something like that.
I was reading a magazine the other day that said "Dress cleverly to improve your shape!" then, directly below it said, "learn to love your classic British figure!".
No.
Just no.
"Dressing cleverly" to "improve your shape" is not, by any means, loving your figure. How does that even make sense!?
As a teenage girl in this society, I'm very, very tired of people shaming their bodies. It's like, you're either beautifully thin/fit with abs and toned everything, or you're beautifully curvy. Magazines and media portray it as if these are the only ways to be. No - these are not the only ways to be. I am not thin or toned, but I am also not curvy. But that's OK.
Every single magazine I see is plastered with pages of how to lose a stone in two weeks, how to dress to make yourself look slimmer, etc, etc. But then, three pages forward, there's someone telling you to love yourself the way you are!! What are we supposed to think when we read these kind of things!? I just think it's appalling how women are so objectified - not just by men; by other women too!
We're expected to be perfect. We expect women in magazines to be perfect. And then, one day, a few celebrities come out without makeup and it's all over the gossip magazines: Who looks the ugliest without makeup? (Yes, I actually saw this once!), Think she's pretty? Think again! and so on. Isn't that horrible? - These people have feelings too, you know. Just because they're celebrities doesn't mean they don't get offended by these kinds of comments.
It makes me sick when people shame any type of body or look. It's like, in our culture, we can't compliment one body shape without offending another. It's either, "Oh, here's how to be slimmer to make a happier you"; or "Curvy girls are REAL women". There's no in between. There's no way of being what society expects you to be. If you're thin, you're not "real". But if you're curvy, you're "fat" or "ugly".
Um... in case no one's realised - ALL WOMEN ARE REAL WOMEN. OK? ARE WE MADE OF PLASTIC? DO WE LOOK FAKE? NO? OK, THEN WE'RE REAL. No matter what our shape or size, we're all real and beautiful. Don't ever let anyone tell you different - not even the magazines that promise you you'll be happier if you lose 30 pounds (FYI, you won't be happier).
Why can't we compliment people without offending other people? Why can't we make comments like, "Your eyes are beautiful", "I love your smile" or "you look so happy" instead of "I love your curves!" or "You look so slim!"?
Come on, women and girls... we can prove that we're beautiful the way we are. God made us the way we are because he wanted us that way. He made us all different, didn't he? Exactly, so let's not try to be in this little fake, non-existent thing called perfection. Let's not try and make ourselves squeeze in to a size 10 just because someone tells us that's what makes us beautiful. Let's love ourselves in whatever state our bodies are in; whether we have bags under our eyes, pale skin, or anything else that society tells us is wrong. Let's love ourselves, even when the entire world are trying to tell us not to.
All my life I’ve been striving for this thing called “perfection”. This is something I’ve seen in magazines, on TV, in books, even on the street. I think every girl or woman has that in them somewhere. I think we all want to be as beautiful as that singer in the magazine, or as beautiful as that woman on TV. It makes me so sad to see girls and even women that feel like this: young teenage girls striving for something that doesn’t really exist, for something that always seems unreachable (maybe because it is!). This thing that is flaunted in our faces everywhere we turn, everywhere we look.
I think - I think - I've finally realised that perfection is not something we can achieve.
And I think I'm one step closer to finally being free.
The pressure on women/girls these days to be thin, or to look a certain way, is immense. It disgusts me how people link being slim with being happy. "Slim" and "happy" are not synonymous. They do not work together - "slim" is not something we need to be happy.
I hate how we make losing weight and starvation such a fantastic thing in society these days. Women are constantly bombarded (I'm not saying it's just women, this is just my experience talking) with ways to "slim down" or something like that.
I was reading a magazine the other day that said "Dress cleverly to improve your shape!" then, directly below it said, "learn to love your classic British figure!".
No.
Just no.
"Dressing cleverly" to "improve your shape" is not, by any means, loving your figure. How does that even make sense!?
As a teenage girl in this society, I'm very, very tired of people shaming their bodies. It's like, you're either beautifully thin/fit with abs and toned everything, or you're beautifully curvy. Magazines and media portray it as if these are the only ways to be. No - these are not the only ways to be. I am not thin or toned, but I am also not curvy. But that's OK.
Every single magazine I see is plastered with pages of how to lose a stone in two weeks, how to dress to make yourself look slimmer, etc, etc. But then, three pages forward, there's someone telling you to love yourself the way you are!! What are we supposed to think when we read these kind of things!? I just think it's appalling how women are so objectified - not just by men; by other women too!
We're expected to be perfect. We expect women in magazines to be perfect. And then, one day, a few celebrities come out without makeup and it's all over the gossip magazines: Who looks the ugliest without makeup? (Yes, I actually saw this once!), Think she's pretty? Think again! and so on. Isn't that horrible? - These people have feelings too, you know. Just because they're celebrities doesn't mean they don't get offended by these kinds of comments.
It makes me sick when people shame any type of body or look. It's like, in our culture, we can't compliment one body shape without offending another. It's either, "Oh, here's how to be slimmer to make a happier you"; or "Curvy girls are REAL women". There's no in between. There's no way of being what society expects you to be. If you're thin, you're not "real". But if you're curvy, you're "fat" or "ugly".
Um... in case no one's realised - ALL WOMEN ARE REAL WOMEN. OK? ARE WE MADE OF PLASTIC? DO WE LOOK FAKE? NO? OK, THEN WE'RE REAL. No matter what our shape or size, we're all real and beautiful. Don't ever let anyone tell you different - not even the magazines that promise you you'll be happier if you lose 30 pounds (FYI, you won't be happier).
Why can't we compliment people without offending other people? Why can't we make comments like, "Your eyes are beautiful", "I love your smile" or "you look so happy" instead of "I love your curves!" or "You look so slim!"?
Come on, women and girls... we can prove that we're beautiful the way we are. God made us the way we are because he wanted us that way. He made us all different, didn't he? Exactly, so let's not try to be in this little fake, non-existent thing called perfection. Let's not try and make ourselves squeeze in to a size 10 just because someone tells us that's what makes us beautiful. Let's love ourselves in whatever state our bodies are in; whether we have bags under our eyes, pale skin, or anything else that society tells us is wrong. Let's love ourselves, even when the entire world are trying to tell us not to.
All my life I’ve been striving for this thing called “perfection”. This is something I’ve seen in magazines, on TV, in books, even on the street. I think every girl or woman has that in them somewhere. I think we all want to be as beautiful as that singer in the magazine, or as beautiful as that woman on TV. It makes me so sad to see girls and even women that feel like this: young teenage girls striving for something that doesn’t really exist, for something that always seems unreachable (maybe because it is!). This thing that is flaunted in our faces everywhere we turn, everywhere we look.
I think - I think - I've finally realised that perfection is not something we can achieve.
And I think I'm one step closer to finally being free.
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
Looking Back
On Saturday I performed at my Primary School's Country Fair. It was 25 degree heat and full of so much action. I met my best friend, Beth, who was with some of her friends from school and also one of our friends from primary school. It was always Beth, our other friend Carly and I at primary school. We were Triple-Trouble.
It was the first time I'd been to that school in three years.
As I was stood there, about to perform, it took me back to year 6 when I performed in the summer Fayre talent show back in 2009. 2009! I can't believe that's how long ago it was. I remember exactly how I was feeling that day because it was like a week before our last day, and the day after our last day we were headed off to Texas for two weeks. I was excited, nervous and sad all at the same time.
I wasn't nervous at all for performing back then, because these people at the school were my family and had seen me perform since I was tiny. But this time, I was so nervous, and I didn't realise why until I came home that day. I realised it was because so much had changed since I'd been there, and it all felt so different and almost unsettling to be there performing in front of people I only just recognised and barely knew anymore.
Even though I was nervous, as soon as I started singing I started getting comfortable. I spotted my God sister, Alice and her mum and dad sat there with huge smiles on their faces watching me. Then I noticed my friend and her friends watching me like they cared and then there was my mum and dad who just had that same "we love you" look on their faces they always do when I perform. I started settling in again, and it felt like I was back home.
It was actually very emotional to be back there, performing, because everything had changed since the last time I sang there 4 whole years ago. It was all a whirlwind, but so nice to be back home where everything began and I started finding who I was.
Halfway through performing, 3 boys walked in, and I had to do a double take (which must have looked funny as I was singing!). It took me a few moments to realise who it was - three boys me and my two best friends used to be in a little "crew" with back in the year 6 days. They were so grown up, so tall and so different, but when we hung out together for a while afterwards I learned that they're still the same nice, crazy guys I knew back when I was 11.
Looking back, I realise I was so different and so was everything at that school. But even though things have changed drastically, and we're all living our separate lives, I know that whenever we come back together or go back to the place we grew up, things just pick up where they left off.
I was talking to my God sister today and I was saying to her how my primary school years were the best years of my life so far. Its nice to know that I'll always have those memories to think back on to pick me up when I'm down. It's also nice to know that the people there, and the people who were there with me, will always be there to support me and welcome me back as if nothing changed.
Thursday, 11 April 2013
Growing up!
It was my birthday a week and a half ago, so I'm officially fifteen. I don't feel any different, but who really does until they look back two years later and realise how much they've changed, matured, grown up?
In the book I'm reading, the main characters best friend is thirteen, and all she starts caring about is boys, makeup and parties, saying it's just her "growing up". I think a lot of girls go through this, and begin to believe that's what it means to be mature. But when you're a bit older - in you're late twenties or early thirties, say - will you really be classed as mature if all you care about is boys and partying? I think very few people would be.
When I was thirteen, I never wanted to be one of those girls who partied and got drunk and stuff, because I knew that wasn't maturity. But I can remember clearly the day I left primary school, I was already trying to pose like one of my teenage friends in pictures. I still look at those "selfies" I took on that day and cringe, because, well... it was seriously cringe-worthy.
So now I'm fifteen. And although I don't feel any different, I know I am very different to the girl I was last year on March 31st (my birthday). And I'm glad I've changed!
My birthday was amazing. We were in Yorkshire, in this little cottage we've been to every year since I was 4. I had one of my best friends with me this year (Rosie), and that made it even better. We headed in to Ilkley and went up to the Cow and Calf (Ilkley Moore) and sat there for a while. It is SUCH an amazing view. Then we went in to town and looked around, then went for a Costa. We had some cake in the morning, for lunch we had a picnic on the Cow and Calf, and then for dinner we had a typical party meal - sausage rolls (vegetarian ones), potato smiles, mini pizzas, party rings. It was perfect! Thank you every one for making it so special and giving me my wonderful, thoughtful gifts.
In the book I'm reading, the main characters best friend is thirteen, and all she starts caring about is boys, makeup and parties, saying it's just her "growing up". I think a lot of girls go through this, and begin to believe that's what it means to be mature. But when you're a bit older - in you're late twenties or early thirties, say - will you really be classed as mature if all you care about is boys and partying? I think very few people would be.
When I was thirteen, I never wanted to be one of those girls who partied and got drunk and stuff, because I knew that wasn't maturity. But I can remember clearly the day I left primary school, I was already trying to pose like one of my teenage friends in pictures. I still look at those "selfies" I took on that day and cringe, because, well... it was seriously cringe-worthy.
So now I'm fifteen. And although I don't feel any different, I know I am very different to the girl I was last year on March 31st (my birthday). And I'm glad I've changed!
My birthday was amazing. We were in Yorkshire, in this little cottage we've been to every year since I was 4. I had one of my best friends with me this year (Rosie), and that made it even better. We headed in to Ilkley and went up to the Cow and Calf (Ilkley Moore) and sat there for a while. It is SUCH an amazing view. Then we went in to town and looked around, then went for a Costa. We had some cake in the morning, for lunch we had a picnic on the Cow and Calf, and then for dinner we had a typical party meal - sausage rolls (vegetarian ones), potato smiles, mini pizzas, party rings. It was perfect! Thank you every one for making it so special and giving me my wonderful, thoughtful gifts.
This is my birthday cake! Isn't it magical?
Here's me blowing out my candles.
And there's the inside of my gorgeous cake. I love it!
Until next time,
Ellie xxxxxx
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