Paraphrasing, but that quote made me both smile and cry at once.
From the human creator of Barbie, to Barbie herself, struggling to find herself and inner happiness once she tasted the human experience in the real world.
—
My wife and I took the kids (7 y/o son and 13 y/o daughter) to see Barbie the other day at the theater.
I’d seen lots of posts and questions about “is this appropriate for so and so age or is it too much?”
My thoughts on that side of it:
- It’s relevant and I’d say basically needed for anyone mature enough to comprehend dialogue, to see.
- I’m *glad* my teenage daughter, in this delicate phase of trying of fit in, was there seeing it with us.
- I’m glad my son got to see an early primer of what many adults grapple with constantly.
Overall thoughts/takeaways:
- I’ve been coaching for nearly a decade now helping folks work toward their goals.
- Many have weight goals or physique goals, or at least they think they do.
- For men and women alike, societal standards are absolutely nuts and unrealistic for many people. *Remember, only Barbie looks like Barbie*.
- For women, constantly made to feel like they have to live, act, and look a certain way, the pressure is beyond great. Too great, and genuinely unfair.
- For men, same, just slightly different.
- In my time coaching folks from every different background, every different age, every different start and end point of they journey possible, two thing that I can confidently say we all have in common:
๐ช๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐น๐๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ. ๐ช๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ.
- For very few, being proud and self-confident will stem from their weight or some (unattainable) physique.
- To steal a quote from one of the greatest coaches and humans I’ve ever known, JD Citron,
“๐๐ณ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ป’๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐, ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐๐ผ๐ป’๐ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ด๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐.”
- Those feelings develop when they begin putting meaningful work into themselves and their physical and mental well-being.
- When we lose ourselves and hand over any sense of our own individual identity and work endlessly toward a goal/ideal that was never valid to start with, the negative mental effect is beyond comprehension.
Instead of weight or body goals, I encourage folks I work with to come up with goals based on their VALUES. Styles and fads and preferences and what’s ‘in’ vs ‘out’ changes, our values change much less often.
When we tie our goals to things we value, the road traveled tends to be much easier, and kinder.
๐ What area of life do you want to unlock for yourself?
๐๏ธWhat do you want to be able to do more of?
๐โโ๏ธ What can’t you do right now that you could begin doing or get back to doing, in a state of better health/fitness?
๐ถ Who do you want to be around longer for?
๐ง Before you work on your body, is it worth doing some work on your mind?
