I work in marketing, and in my line of work you hear a lot about influencers–they’re not necessarily the people who buy your product, but they are the people others listen to when choosing a product.
So a common piece of advice is to identify your influencers and focus on them, because if they like what you’re doing, they’ll tell the rest of your audience for you.
The flip side of that is identifying the people who influence your decisions. Who do you listen to? And do they help you?
I think we all know that we live in a world that values youth and a very specific body type that lots of us don’t have. And it’s hard not to be influenced by that cultural attitude. So try as I may to focus on staying healthy, and being able to achieve things physically, I readily admit that, yes, I would also just like to be thinner, and fit in a smaller size.
But you know who doesn’t care? Who sees me and thinks I’m just right?
I should really focus more on listening to Baguette.
Aw this is a nice piece 🙂
Thanks. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and then the picture was, fortuitously, taken. So it seemed like a natural.
That is such a sweet picture. And you’re right. My kids think I’m awesome right now. I should listen to them!
Absolutely! Baguette never looks at me and thinks, “Mommy would be so much better if she lost 20 pounds” or “I wish Mommy dressed more stylishly.” And your kids don’t, either. They just look at us and see Mommy, and they don’t want us to be different in any way.
Beautiful! As I have this very same conversation in my own head (over and over), I remember how wonderful it was to hug my mom, because she was so very soft and warm. Looks like my kids will have those same kinds of memories!
When I was a kid, I thought my mother was the most beautiful woman in the world. She thought she was overweight. And she was right–but I was right, too. The things I and other people loved about her had nothing to do with physical size, or career advancement, or financial acumen, or anything else that is easily rewarded in our society.