Feel Good about Yourself Today [updated]

“If tomorrow, women woke up and decided they really liked their bodies, just think how many industries would go out of business.”
― Dr. Gail Dines

Feel Good about Yourself Today | Personal-a-Teas

How nice is it to get a hug in the morning?

Okay, how nice is it to get a hug, anytime during the day?

It’s remarkable what a hug (from a welcome source) can do for the spirit and the soul. It’s a ready-made pep-stepper. Per the eminent therapist, Virginia Satir, ‘we need 4 hugs a day for survival, we need 8 hugs a day for maintenance and we need 12 hugs a day for growth’. She believed we are all capable of continued growth and development, throughout our lives. She also believed that solving supposedly insurmountable (her expertise was in ‘communication’) problems can be done. In a stepwise manner. Iteratively and commutatively.

Feel Good about Yourself Today | Personal-a-Teas
Our mission @Personal-a-Teas is to provide an ickle-virtual hug, that is super-easy to distribute amongst you all. We want to focus upon ‘who we are as people’ (both, individually and collectively) and reward each of our personalities, accordingly. We want to spread fun and positivity through the masses with tangible treats at our client cafes, to boot.

Our message is of ‘positivity, personality and reward’.

An easy task?

We’ll take it step by step!

Whilst working on another ‘promotional’ article for a client, I discovered that there was a cohort of people who need the proverbial hug. They need their spirits and confidence lifted. In some cases, their self-esteem is on the floor.

And there is a distinct cause of this unhappiness. The source of this unhappiness is a contemporary phenomenon in communication. And it needs to be addressed and countered with seriousness.

Nowadays, there is huge pressure on girls and women to look ‘as society’ wants them to. They are being told how to look, what they should wear (if they can find it – read on!), that they’re not conforming to the latest ‘in vogue’ fashions etc. These communicated messages are subliminal, stealthy and very, very powerful. They can also be very explicit and ‘in your face’. Take for instance the image below from a local gym. (No names will be mentioned, but upon seeing this piece of literature, I wasn’t so sure this flyer would resonate with the masses. At least not in the intended way).

Tired of being fat & ugly
There can be terrible consequences because of these incessant and demeaning communications. They can trigger depression, social-anxiety, unspoken misery even eating disorders, in susceptible individuals. When a female friend told me that some of her friends had ‘cancelled on nights out (in the past) because they considered themselves “too fat”, it was shocking to hear.

This alarming anecdote is what has ensured I’d continue to write on this topic. (The original article was strictly promotional, but researching the fashion industry a little lead to me unearthing a subject worth exposing).

Feel Good about Yourself Today | Personal-a-Teas

Adult women, so low in self-esteem, and lacking in confidence regarding their physical appearance, that they decide to shut themselves away from social interaction and perceived public judgement. If that’s not a negative commentary upon society I don’t know what is.

How prevalent is this? As a male of the species, I wouldn’t be able to say. Perhaps, you can?

Feel Good about Yourself Today | Personal-a-Teas
I, through the @Personal-a-Teas Platform am only too happy to contribute to spreading their message of resistance. The message is a simple one: ‘Feel good about yourself today!’ Celtic Curves is for both women and men (united!) urging a reassertion of pride in their bodily shapes, sizes, personalities, appearance – ‘love who you are’. They are empowering and boosting the esteem of ‘plus-sized people’ through their commentaries, blogs, memes (!), peer-driven advise published across all social media channels.

Feel Good about Yourself Today | Personal-a-Teas
Their adversaries are wealthy, ‘esteemed’ and disingenuous. They send mixed messages to confuse the masses. A case in point is excellently highlighted in a recent blog post published on March 2nd detailing the proclamation by a certain High-Street Label’s Shop to: ‘Love Your Curves’. The two models employed for the ‘curvy’ photoshoot certainly were not the typical definition of ‘curvy women’. The cynicism of the message is only heightened by the actual lack of choice of clothes for larger ladies within the same High Street Label’s catalogue.

The size of the task for the Celtic Curves ladies (and others) is considerable and not helped by some of their own female counterparts.

Feel Good about Yourself Today | Personal-a-Teas
Unfortunately, like in any Shakespearian tragedy, brave ambition never runs smooth! The path less taken can be a lonely furrow. Often, the protagonists get side-swiped from the inside / blind side. A parasitic unravelling of unity leading to resentment and anger within the ranks. In another well-written blogpost (originally composed by Audrey O’ Neill from Plus Size Model Management) we are shown how Nike, have spotted a gap in the market and are genuinely tailoring their sportswear designs with plus sized ladies in mind. But guess what, the real plus-sized ladies used in their adverts are being lambasted by other women (online, of course) for being ‘over-weight’, ‘non-conformal’ and ‘unattractive’.

Who needs enemies…?!

Wishing the Celtic Curves ladies (Fifi, Charlotte, Rachel, Rhian, Nicole and Emma) the best of luck in their gallant endeavours to negate the impact of the irresponsible profiteering communications emanating from the consumerism and fashion industries.

Feel Good about Yourself Today | Personal-a-Teas

Ref: https://www.facebook.com/CelticCurves/

Ref: http://plusmodels.ie/

Ref: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/02/06/hugging.aspx

Ref: https://satirglobal.org/about-virginia-satir/

Ref: https://www.facebook.com/SpaceOutSister/

Ref: https://jesuispersonality.xyz/join-the-personal-a-teas-cafe-community/

Ref: https://jesuispersonality.xyz/create-your-personal-a-tea-selfie/

Ref: http://fashionweek.com/yellow-2017-fashion-color-forecast/