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Average People
Busting a myth
Today, as I drove to the farmer’s market, I realized most of us are just average. What I mean by that is simple: very few of us are a perfect 10. In fact, most of us come in somewhere around 5-7 (average). I see people running all the time around my neighborhood, and most of them are just trying to stay as healthy as they can. Some might be hoping to lose some weight, build a six-pack, or otherwise showcase their bod for the sex partners of their choice. But most of us are just attempting to slow down a process of cellular disintegration that began the moment we took our first breath.
So if most of us are average folks, why do the media, ad agencies, dating apps, etc. all expect us to be More?
Let me tell you: as a girl growing up in the ’70s, a young mother in the ’80s, a working-my-ass-off nurse in the ’90s, and a newly divorced mid-life woman in the 2000s—I never, ever once felt that my average body was acceptable.
When I think back to all the time, money, and energy I wasted on striving to be some ideal, it annoys the crap out of me. No one ever told me that average was okay. I had to be thinner (of course). My hip-to-waist ratio was off. My BMI was unacceptable. I didn’t wear enough makeup. The gray in my hair had to go. The lines on my face should be erased. My scars and stretch marks are not something to be…
