Mirror, Mirror

Mirror, mirror on the wall…who’s the fairest of them all?

The way we view ourselves dictates our behavior and what we attract. A woman who seems to have all the confidence in the world can internally be struggling to accept who’s looking back at her in the mirror. Discussions continuously swirl about low self-esteem and negative self-perception in the female community. Television and radio are cluttered with images and songs that further drive home how women should dress, act, and speak in order to be accepted in today’s society. Lots of women claim to reject the ideals that are being forced on them but they “entertain” themselves with the very things they claim to refute.

How is it that our choice of entertainment is contrary to what we say that we believe? Each and every day our daughters are struggling to fit in and be accepted and we say that bothers us, but we have them sitting on the couch next to us while we “enjoy” shows and music that further demean their actual beauty. Could it be that our so-called “entertainment” feeds something inside of us that we should be killing? Why do we consistently choose entertainment over empowerment when it’s clear that we need an abundance of the latter? We have chosen to ignore why our palette prefers entertainment instead encouragement. Ignorance is not bliss!

It’s not only our daughters that are suffering but also women who have experienced life’s ups and downs that have allowed “reality” TV and the Billboard Top 100 to dictate what sexy and feminine means to us. We can’t ignore that what we see on our television is being reenacted in real life. Phrases like “no new friends” have permeated through an entire culture, so do we dare believe that the similarities stop only at the words? NO! Take a long look around you.

There’s a lot of energy being put into trying to pluck fruit off a tree that needs to be totally uprooted. We can trace a lot of our issues back to not accepting, embracing, and loving ourselves; but if we aren’t willing to change what we plant, things will remain the same. If you want something to survive, you feed it and if you want something to die, you starve it. There is no coincidence that a large amount of what’s being broadcast on the radio and on television is receiving ratings through the roof. It confirms what we already feel about ourselves. We think we’re bad “b’s” so we have no problem with hearing an entire song or TV show that says the same.  You cannot grow beauty when you plant ugly seeds, it’s not possible. Does what you take in reflect what you want to come out?

As women, we have to do a better job of speaking life to our sisters and killing those stereotypes that keep us from loving that woman in the mirror. Choose your “entertainment” wisely and ensure that it’s awakening the beauty inside of you and not piling another brick on top of your head. Your spirit could use the CPR and so could someone else’s. Take the time to turn off “Basketball Wives of XYZ”, “Love & Hip Hop of Wherever”, and “Scandal” and use that time to empower another woman. It sounds so simple but does so much.

If we really want to see change, we have to start being it!

With All My Love,
Mrs. Truscott