Have you ever read society’s fine print? Staying home for so long during lockdown really gave me time to think and I ended up turning all my notifications off and unfollowing a lot of the community Facebook pages as they were stressing me out. People complaining about other people, mean comments and photos of bad parking did not help the overall feeling of doom that was lingering in the air. Not having those outside influences was like a breath of fresh air and it gave me time to think without society’s constant toxic influence.

 

6 weeks of no make up, not bothering with the hairdryer and not having to jam my thighs into jeans was bliss.

Now that we are in level 2 and we have started to rebuild our world, I find myself not wanting to go back to the old normal. Lockdown showed me the important things in life, and they did not include body issues and diets.

 

I feel like I’ve finally seen the fine print of the message that society has always bombarded us with and I no longer accept the terms and conditions.

 

 

Love yourself just as you are.

As long as you have perfect skin and a full face of natural looking flawless make up. As long as you fit into the stereotype we tell you to emulate. Here are the products you should buy to love yourself just are you are.

 

 

Love your body.

Unless you are too fat. Or too thin. Or your boobs are too big. Or too small. Or your teeth aren’t straight and you have a few wrinkles. A strict diet will sort you out. We just want you to be ‘healthy’….

 

 

Embrace aging.

As long as you make it look good. As long as you dye those greys and botox those smile lines. This is the moisturiser of the week that will stop the ageing process and make us all love you as you age.

 

 

Be a natural beauty.

Use these unnatural products to do it. Coat your skin in tan and spend hours to achieve that ‘natural’ wave in your hair. Get braces and wax every inch of your body.

 

Or…..

 

Realise that beauty has got nothing to do with what’s on the outside. None of those things actually matter, it’s all just skin over bones. While we are striving for society’s so called ‘perfection’ it is already busy setting the bar even higher.

 

 

Do you listen, are you kind, do you comfort others? Surround yourself with actual beauty and your life will be so much more enriched. Be the friend they know they can count on, be the sister who would move mountains and the partner who never tells a lie. Be the person that people miss seeing during a pandemic.

 

Be beautiful without a mirror. Do not accept the terms and conditions whispered in the fine print, instead make your own. Pay attention to the adverts we are bombarded with in magazines, on tv and those annoying pop up ads on our phone. Who are they actually benefiting and notice how they need to shame you slyly in order to make you want them.

 

You just survived a pandemic. You are perfect just as you are.