By Amy Martin
Around the holidays, people tend to spend more time eating than anything else. I, for one, am definitely guilty of packing on the pounds. With two holidays back to back, I know that I speak for a large number of the teenage population when I say, “we really let ourselves go.”
It’s not only the overeating that is killing our figures, but the lack of desire to exercise and be outside where the weather is slowly but surely getting colder. With this in mind, I went to the department stores today, looking for some winter wear to hide my bloated body and was surprised at the lack thereof. Instead of finding a large array of long sweaters and baggy pants, my eyes were assaulted with mini shorts and silky tank tops. This made me feel suddenly very inadequate standing there, with a body that I knew was now too white and too un-toned to wear such garments.
Are we no longer afforded the luxury of winter? The few months where we get to maybe eat a bit more than we should and work out less than we did, and still be able to feel comfortable in our skin?
Women already are expected to look a certain way. We are not only shown how we should look through magazines and media, but also through our local stereotypes. Looking forward to the “down-days” of the colder months was what kept me going through my summer workouts, and now that they are finally here I know that I won’t be able to fully enjoy them.
So I ask you this; are we all so concerned about what we look like and what other people think of us, that we are preventing ourselves from enjoying our bodies? If the answer is yes, winter’s comfort could soon be permanently over for us all.
Amy Martin attends California Preparatory for independent study and takes French at San Clemente High School. She has a passion for writing and would like to become a reconstructive surgeon for burn victims and those in high-impact crashes.
