"The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman is seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It’s the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows & the beauty of a woman only grows with passing years."
— Audrey Hepburn
I needed a little R&R after work so I decided to go to my local nail shop for a nice mani & pedi. I have been going to this nails shop for a while now so I am familiar with the nail techs and I feel comfortable around them. I have been to nail shops where I didn't feel as comfortable as a plus size woman and was actually told by a nail tech that I needed to lose some weight because it is not good for me. So, I politely told her I didn’t come here for your unsolicited health advise and I took my big, unhealthy money somewhere else. I have never in my life felt so discriminated against or disrespected needless to say I never went back there again. I even once heard on the news that nail shops would charge a plus size woman more to get a pedicure than a skinner woman. Ridiculous… Right??? But, believe me it is real in the field.
As I was getting my pedicure the nail tech guy looked up at me and said how long have you been that size? I wanted to do my sista girl neck roll and say my favorite line “First of all.” I immediately started to adjust my sitting to get up and leave but, something inside tole me told me "DON'T YOU MOVE OR GO ANYWHERE ADDRESS IT HEAD ON". I looked him in the eyes and said "Well, I have always been a "plus size" girl. Why do you ask? I was waiting for some kind of not asked opinion or remark about how I needed to lose weight, or how I would look so much better if I lost weight or how unhealthy I am. But, to my surprise he said "You are very pretty". My face was in shock. He then went on to say when you come in here you dress really nice, you have nice skin and you always look very good. He said some women that he sees that are my size come into their shop and look like they don't take care of themselves. My face was still in shock. I recently went to another nail shop in another town (as you can see I am diverse when it comes to getting my mani’s & pedi’s)I sat in the chair to get my pedicure and a lady was looking at me from afar. It made me feel uncomfortable once again, so I looked at her and said "HELLO" she looked at me and said you are so very pretty & you have a beautiful smile. It was like she had never saw a plus size girl look put together and decent I guess. To me, that is sad that I was being judge by someone else's appearance. I have heard every rumor in the book about plus size women but, I hate being judge on any level because the only person opinion that truly matters to me is JESUS!!
Back to the story at hand…..
I then asked him "In your country are plus size woman looked upon as being attractive?" He was very honest and said no they weren’t because they have very little where he is from and it is very hard for them to become plus size. He stated they work really hard in the fields doing various job for little pay. He did say that if you are married and your wife has kids and becomes bigger that is fine. (geesh)
As we continue to have our open yet honest conversation about weight and different views about acceptance of plus size women, I came to the conclusion that I am so use to people saying negative things about my weight or how I look I expect everyone to feel the same way and clearly that wasn’t the case. I learned that by me addressing the question he asked me (even though I still think it was out of line) my confidence and acceptance of myself has grown A LOT!!. I could have easily gotten up and took my money elsewhere heck, there is a nail shop every two miles but, I didn't and the reason why, because each and every day I work on my confidence and I refuse to let people opinions of “MY” weight affect me. I will "ALWAYS" be in favor of living a healthy lifestyle but, I have accepted the fact they I may never be a size 8 or maybe even a 12 and I am fine with that. I will always strive to be the best “ME” I can be but ,on my journey of getting there I am going to love me now and not later!!
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