Advertising and the media tell us that our bodies are not ideal and need to be “improved”. A cut here, a trim there to make our noses straighter, our eyes the shape of Cleopatra and our bottoms the roundest in the world. We want to be more seductive and confident by being beautiful on the outside.

Let’s ask ourselves: how many hours or days have we spent counting calories?

How much time have we spent anxiously looking at the scale to see if it’s finally going down (and driving ourselves crazy when it goes up)? All I know is that I spent my thirties looking in the mirror every day to notice my “inadequacies”.

“A sound mind in a sound body”, the old folks used to say. Can we have a healthy soul if we shed the pounds and get a new look? In the old days, a Cupid-like figure was considered sexy and attractive. Then came the (under) S models in size “Zero”. Today we finally see models with butts and breasts again. True, it’s the few… New fads come and go and tell us when we are “perfect”. But we will never be perfect if we always listen to the new wave. Because perfection doesn’t start here, it starts in the soul. If we always try to meet the expectations of the outside world, we will never want to meet our own. People come and go in our lives, but I remain ME.

If we always listen to others, we will never hear our inner voice

Make-up, size S can only make us beautiful on the outside, it has nothing to do with inner beauty. The ability to love and accept myself with my flaws and weaknesses, to know that there are ups and downs in my life, and to go on living despite it all. To remain human despite all the difficulties. To be at peace with myself, with my exterior, is to achieve inner peace.

That is why I have decided not to make any New Year’s resolutions, because I am good the way I am. With all my love handles, my sleepy eyes in the morning and my own shape, which is not perfect according to the fashion world. But I don’t care about that now, because I am ME and I don’t want to waste my time and mental energy looking at the scales and in the mirror every morning (and evening) anymore.

On that note, I (inwardly) wish everyone a happy and peaceful new year,

Lisa Guarcello