By Allison Christensen
Cardinal Staff
My name is Allison Christensen and after three years of struggling with anorexia and calorie counting I am finally able to say: I am beautiful.
The moment that defined the end of my struggle occurred during Blue Angel 2013. I was having fun with my friends and listening to all the awesome music when a thought struck me: “Who cares?” Who cares if my stomach isn’t perfectly flat or if my thighs don’t have a gap?
For years I felt like everyone was scrutinizing my every flaw. But there’s so much more to care about: music, art, travel, school, work, relationships. Life is too short and too busy to be constantly worrying about how many calories are in this food, how many calories have I eaten today, what I look like, and “am I fat am I fat am I fat?” Who cares? Stop worrying about it. Embrace what makes you YOUnique. Do the things you enjoy and have fun! This is the best way to find your moment, the moment that turns your negative body image into a positive one.
I want to help myself and others live a happy and healthy life instead of going to dangerous lengths to achieve the impossible beauty standards defined by the media. In December, with the help of my excellent Principles of Marketing professor, Steve Bachler, I started a blog about positive body image. You can find it online at hey--beautiful.blogspot.com. I will be writing about body image issues here in the Cardinal every month, but if you want to read more (and see cool videos that I can’t put into print) please check it out and tell your friends! You will also find links to my Tumblr and Twitter there.
Let’s write a new definition of beautiful: natural, comfortable, and healthy!
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