Latest news with #selfacceptance
ABC News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
"Physically gratifying": Lorde picks apart her most exposing album, Virgin
Lorde is laying it all bare under the stark light with her fourth album Virgin ; a concept evident from the drop when she revealed artwork belonging to this new project. What is a more revealing and equalising image than an x-ray? While our minds immediately link the album title to the obvious idea — sex and the transition to adulthood — Lorde explores "virgin" in a more literal sense; pure, unadulterated and original. No hiding, no mask, no covering up. Just a woman laid bare, allowing us to inspect her bones. The album developed at a time when Lorde was experiencing a sense of renewed pureness herself. She came off her birth control and experienced a break-up in close succession, a seismic emotional and hormonal shift that allowed her to see herself with fresh eyes under a harsh, bright light — something she wasn't ready to do with Solar Power . Inspired by the plain and frank writing of other women she had been reading, Lorde turned the spotlight inward to examine herself at a pore-level. "I think coming out of my last album, which was a little bit more cloaked in metaphor and sort of imagery, which I really needed at that time, I think a lot of us did in the pandemic sort of need to go somewhere," she said. "It wasn't the right time for the fluorescent lights to be on, to see the body in its grotesque beauty." "But I think it's a combination of things. I think like coming into my later twenties, I felt more sort of accepting of myself and really tapped into the magnificence of being like in the body." Inspecting and accepting this grotesque beauty she hadn't allowed herself to do publicly also allowed Lorde to honour parts of her teen self; one that was in the spotlight from the age of 16. "When I think about being a teenager I think of a crudeness, a sort of lack of refinement," she said. "I think of these big swings of emotion, these big surges and I think of this sort of toughness and stubbornness, and like 'my way'-ness. And also this deep vulnerability. "You know, you're on the precipice of great change. You're leaving something behind. You're gaining something else. Just as I kind of came into myself and my body in this new way." "Coming into my later 20s, I felt more accepting of myself and really tapped into the magnificence of being like in the body." ( Credit: Instagram / @lorde ) Being in a stripped back form of her reality without synthetic hormones or another to focus attention on, Lorde was also able to explore her gender expression and ways it felt affirming to her. The creation of 'Man Of The Year' lets us meet Lorde at the moment this kicked off for her — at an event celebrating the masculine where she felt "a wrongness" for dressing feminine. "I wore this very basic hot girl outfit. My hair really looked like a girl and I felt all wrong, all night," she said. "I was like, 'This is wrong. Why am I dressed like a girl tonight? This is a night where I'm a man, like I'm supposed to be with them'. "This was at a time where I was kind of beginning to understand that my gender was, yeah, like more expansive than I had thought. I am like a woman, but there's masculinity within that. Deep masculinity." Lorde's exploration of her gender involved her taking up more space by going to the gym, building muscle and broadening out. "I was getting stronger, I'd gained some weight and all of a sudden I was seeing these shoulders and arms and I would see myself sometimes and get a fright," she said. "I think a lot of women have this sort of conditioning to want to look. You know, to be the like smallest possible version of themselves. It took me a second to be like, 'what if we didn't do that?'" The duality of 'Man Of The Year' follows immediately afterwards — 'Grown Woman'. With its direct lyrics and unflinching horniness, Lorde delivers a track that can only be described in one way. "It's my fuck-girl song," she laughed. "It's what I want. It's kind of dumb and horny. It's so bombastic, the drum language." "I am like a woman, but there's masculinity within that. Deep masculinity." ( Credit: Instagram / @lorde, Talia Chetrit ) Virgin was created with Jim-E Stack, combining her stirring lyricism with his abrasive industrial sound. It was an interesting learning curve for Lorde; Jim-E's process challenged her with the way she builds sounds and melodies, pulling her away from the well-worn creative path she's always tread. "Jim-E has such a language to how he samples drums," she said. "You hear the presence of machines in a big way with his drums, but I think that we really like took his language and expanded upon it and... I think the crux of our collaboration is that I am always sort of advocating for simplicity. "I remember making 'Man of the Year', I was just like lying on the couch sort of singing into the microphone and then we like chopped that up together, like almost like an electronic song. Just pulling vocals around, throwing them wherever, putting this here, cutting that in half, moving it over there, and I hadn't written a melody like that before, but it felt right." This collaboration resulted in Lorde and Jim-E "making choices that were physically gratifying" instead of thinking too deeply. With the use of Korg Polysix synths across Virgin , Lorde embraced the kind of warm, indulgent sounds she grew up listening to. "It has this very yummy, I call it like 'guilty pleasure' feeling," she said. "It reminds me of Ratatat, I grew up listening to so much Ratatat on the school bus. It was just so cool and satisfying, there's almost like a dumbness to the synth and I love that. "It works on my body and kind of bypasses my brain, you know?" "So I think the percussion choices were kind of made on a similar level. Just what feels good, not what do we think is a good idea." Lorde surprised herself on Virgin , largely with her direct and unflinching lyricism. She wrote plainly about sex and the human experience in ways she'd never heard before, in a way she knew she needed to. "I think there are lines in 'Current Affairs' and 'Clear Blue' that are pretty not safe for work, that felt kind of shocking to me and profound too," she said. "I didn't realise that I had been wanting to hear a woman talk about sex the way I was talking about sex on this album. "Honestly, this album is so many things. 'Broken Glass' – it took a lot to let that song out of me. 'Favourite Daughter'...there is stuff that's hard to say but I think I've got to say it."
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Katherine LaNasa was always cast in ‘sexual' roles. She's happy to ditch makeup on 'The Pitt.'
As a teen ballet dancer turned actress with a list of credits (including Two and a Half Men and Big Love) as long as her arm, Katherine LaNasa has spent most of her life in the spotlight. But starring as emergency-room nurse Dana on the hit HBO Max medical drama The Pitt has launched the 58-year-old into a new level of fame. It's coming just at the right time, she says. 'I saw an [article] yesterday on GQ about these men that are finding success in their 50s — like Pedro Pascal, Coleman Domingo and Walt Goggins — and how they already have a well-established self-identity,' LaNasa tells me during our conversation for Yahoo Life's Unapologetically series. 'It's really nice to feel really settled in myself and to have done what I do with very relatively little praise. So getting praise now, it's a nice ride. You see kids get that, and they start thinking they need to adopt some other jaded or cool persona. I already am my grown-up cool/uncool self. This is just career stability and nicer accommodations and clothing.' LaNasa has a lot of self-acceptance when it comes to the subject of aging, and her confidence is infectious. 'I was walking on the street in Atlanta, and [this guy said], 'Your dog almost walked into my dog,'' she recalls. 'I was like, 'Were you inconvenienced?' And he goes, 'You look old.' I said, 'I am old!' [But] I feel like I'm in really good shape; I feel really strong.' Having an 11-year-old daughter, with her husband, '90s heartthrob Grant Show of Melrose Place fame, also keeps her young. But motherhood is hardly new experience; LaNasa was in her early 20s when she and then-husband Dennis Hopper (30 years her senior) welcomed their son Henry, who is now in his 30s. What has LaNasa learned from her relationships, and why is she happy to let go of playing sexual characters? Here's what she told me during our candid conversation on aging, catcalling and not wearing makeup on TV. I'd always wanted to work for [The Pitt executive producer] John Wells, and I thought, If I could get in front of [casting], if they ever see my tape, I have a feeling I know what they want. And it just worked out. [As for] the success — it's kind of like if you loved making coffee, and you made coffee for someone every day, and you put a beautiful heart on it or different designs every day, and you did that for 30 years or so, and that was your job, and you got paid well, and you liked [it], and then, one day someone looked at you and said, "This is such great coffee. I really love your coffee." That's kind of what it feels like. Getting approval and praise I didn't think was ever coming my way — that I wasn't looking for and I didn't really need — is all just a bonus, and it feels like a nice warm bath. It's very enjoyable. I always played such sexual characters, and I think I always identified myself so much with my sexuality. I thought that if I became less sexually desirable as I got older or if I felt less interested in sex, I would lose a big part of my identity, and it would be terrible. And I find that I just really don't care. You know, this thing about older women being invisible? I'll take a step back. I used to get catcalled all the time, and it's a relief, and it's nice [to not have to deal with that anymore]. I also think [now is] a time in life — if you can let go of this feminine ideal of our physical beauty — it's really a time in life for deeper things, to think about the meaning of your life, to think about your own mortality, to think about what kind of legacy you want to leave and who you are. I really appreciate this season of life. I also appreciate feeling really seasoned in my craft. So often that's the thing I like the most about a day. It's like, 'I really knew how to make that scene work. I knew how to get the guest star to speed up with me. And then I stopped for the camera just so, and I can handle a lot of camera moves, choreography, notes at once, and it feels really easy.' There's a lot of technical aspects about acting that people don't think about, and it's nice to feel at a certain point that you have some mastery over them. I think we are flipping the script on that. I have to say, I think there've been some really incredible, brave women out there that have always portrayed real women — you know, the Allison Janneys and the Patricia Arquettes. And then you get these sex symbols like Pamela Anderson going [on the red carpet] with like almost no makeup. John Wells is a maverick at putting real, complex, imperfect-looking women on television and celebrating them, way before it was cool. So to work for him, it just really feels like I'm getting to step into that. I have to tell you: To play a part like Dana and to wear no makeup, it was really very freeing. It's also really freeing working for a mostly female writing crew. Feeling like I don't have to live up to that ridiculous, feminine, sexual ideal has freed up my acting. And I think it's why the acting's good on the show. Women can feel like they can just relax into being themselves. Yeah, I love clothes and style in general. I used to have an interior design business, and I'm sort of an amateur interior designer now. I'm very visual. I also love ceramics. I feel like I'm in really good shape. Like, I feel really strong. I do yoga every day. I like mixing the hot yoga with the regular yoga. I play a little tiny bit of pickleball. I hike. I really appreciate that my body is still really strong — [something] you take for granted when you're young. I'm glad I can still do all this. The one thing that was really hard was [the doctors] wanting to give me a C-section right away. They wanted to plan a C-section. Because of my age, they were worried. I grew up in a family of doctors, so I'm used to just listening to the doctor. But I wanted to push back a lot. I didn't want to incise my body if I didn't have to. If I had needed one, I definitely would have, but I didn't want to plan for it months early just because I was 47. I had some kind of pre-preeclampsia signs. I went in for some testing, and they kept me in the hospital, and they induced labor with Pitocin. But then I didn't want to have an epidural, because I didn't want to slow [labor] down. I was worried about too many drugs. So I had a natural childbirth on Pitocin, and I don't recommend it. It was super hard. I feel really powerful because I got through that, but it was really, really intense. [And] I fortunately got a doctor who helped me advocate for what I wanted. Don't get married at 22! I think if you marry someone that is so far apart in age, at least for me, there wasn't a lot of intimacy in that. It's nice to have someone that you can grow with — more of a friend as opposed to them being the successful teacher one, and you being the student, less successful, more dependent one. I would opt now for a relationship with more equality. The thing we have between us really is our craft. He wants to audition for a musical, so I'm gonna help him with the choreography. I've helped him with the choreography before when he had to dance on Dynasty. He helps me with all my self-tapes. We have a very artistic home. We're always singing, or he plays the piano, and it's a very creative space. That's the thing I like most. We have the same aesthetic; we like the same things. We move a lot, and he really trusts how I'm going to put together a home. [Despite] my longevity in the business and what I've done and the people that I've worked with already, like Billy Bob Thornton and Will Ferrell and Jay Roach, I never really got that kind of name recognition. I'm hoping that The Pitt will sort of catapult me into getting to work with some more artists that I really want to work with. Slow down, trust your instincts, and say what you mean — [but] don't say it mean. I [also] wish I appreciated that my skin wasn't wrinkly. To all the 30-year-olds out there, wear all the crop tops, wear all the short shorts. Love yourself. Love your body. Enjoy your body. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Katherine LaNasa was always cast in ‘sexual' roles. She's happy to ditch makeup on 'The Pitt.'
As a teen ballet dancer turned actress with a list of credits (including Two and a Half Men and Big Love) as long as her arm, Katherine LaNasa has spent most of her life in the spotlight. But starring as emergency-room nurse Dana on the hit HBO Max medical drama The Pitt has launched the 58-year-old into a new level of fame. It's coming just at the right time, she says. 'I saw an [article] yesterday on GQ about these men that are finding success in their 50s — like Pedro Pascal, Coleman Domingo and Walt Goggins — and how they already have a well-established self-identity,' LaNasa tells me during our conversation for Yahoo Life's Unapologetically series. 'It's really nice to feel really settled in myself and to have done what I do with very relatively little praise. So getting praise now, it's a nice ride. You see kids get that, and they start thinking they need to adopt some other jaded or cool persona. I already am my grown-up cool/uncool self. This is just career stability and nicer accommodations and clothing.' LaNasa has a lot of self-acceptance when it comes to the subject of aging, and her confidence is infectious. 'I was walking on the street in Atlanta, and [this guy said], 'Your dog almost walked into my dog,'' she recalls. 'I was like, 'Were you inconvenienced?' And he goes, 'You look old.' I said, 'I am old!' [But] I feel like I'm in really good shape; I feel really strong.' Having an 11-year-old daughter, with her husband, '90s heartthrob Grant Show of Melrose Place fame, also keeps her young. But motherhood is hardly new experience; LaNasa was in her early 20s when she and then-husband Dennis Hopper (30 years her senior) welcomed their son Henry, who is now in his 30s. What has LaNasa learned from her relationships, and why is she happy to let go of playing sexual characters? Here's what she told me during our candid conversation on aging, catcalling and not wearing makeup on TV. I'd always wanted to work for [The Pitt executive producer] John Wells, and I thought, If I could get in front of [casting], if they ever see my tape, I have a feeling I know what they want. And it just worked out. [As for] the success — it's kind of like if you loved making coffee, and you made coffee for someone every day, and you put a beautiful heart on it or different designs every day, and you did that for 30 years or so, and that was your job, and you got paid well, and you liked [it], and then, one day someone looked at you and said, "This is such great coffee. I really love your coffee." That's kind of what it feels like. Getting approval and praise I didn't think was ever coming my way — that I wasn't looking for and I didn't really need — is all just a bonus, and it feels like a nice warm bath. It's very enjoyable. I always played such sexual characters, and I think I always identified myself so much with my sexuality. I thought that if I became less sexually desirable as I got older or if I felt less interested in sex, I would lose a big part of my identity, and it would be terrible. And I find that I just really don't care. You know, this thing about older women being invisible? I'll take a step back. I used to get catcalled all the time, and it's a relief, and it's nice [to not have to deal with that anymore]. I also think [now is] a time in life — if you can let go of this feminine ideal of our physical beauty — it's really a time in life for deeper things, to think about the meaning of your life, to think about your own mortality, to think about what kind of legacy you want to leave and who you are. I really appreciate this season of life. I also appreciate feeling really seasoned in my craft. So often that's the thing I like the most about a day. It's like, 'I really knew how to make that scene work. I knew how to get the guest star to speed up with me. And then I stopped for the camera just so, and I can handle a lot of camera moves, choreography, notes at once, and it feels really easy.' There's a lot of technical aspects about acting that people don't think about, and it's nice to feel at a certain point that you have some mastery over them. I think we are flipping the script on that. I have to say, I think there've been some really incredible, brave women out there that have always portrayed real women — you know, the Allison Janneys and the Patricia Arquettes. And then you get these sex symbols like Pamela Anderson going [on the red carpet] with like almost no makeup. John Wells is a maverick at putting real, complex, imperfect-looking women on television and celebrating them, way before it was cool. So to work for him, it just really feels like I'm getting to step into that. I have to tell you: To play a part like Dana and to wear no makeup, it was really very freeing. It's also really freeing working for a mostly female writing crew. Feeling like I don't have to live up to that ridiculous, feminine, sexual ideal has freed up my acting. And I think it's why the acting's good on the show. Women can feel like they can just relax into being themselves. Yeah, I love clothes and style in general. I used to have an interior design business, and I'm sort of an amateur interior designer now. I'm very visual. I also love ceramics. I feel like I'm in really good shape. Like, I feel really strong. I do yoga every day. I like mixing the hot yoga with the regular yoga. I play a little tiny bit of pickleball. I hike. I really appreciate that my body is still really strong — [something] you take for granted when you're young. I'm glad I can still do all this. The one thing that was really hard was [the doctors] wanting to give me a C-section right away. They wanted to plan a C-section. Because of my age, they were worried. I grew up in a family of doctors, so I'm used to just listening to the doctor. But I wanted to push back a lot. I didn't want to incise my body if I didn't have to. If I had needed one, I definitely would have, but I didn't want to plan for it months early just because I was 47. I had some kind of pre-preeclampsia signs. I went in for some testing, and they kept me in the hospital, and they induced labor with Pitocin. But then I didn't want to have an epidural, because I didn't want to slow [labor] down. I was worried about too many drugs. So I had a natural childbirth on Pitocin, and I don't recommend it. It was super hard. I feel really powerful because I got through that, but it was really, really intense. [And] I fortunately got a doctor who helped me advocate for what I wanted. Don't get married at 22! I think if you marry someone that is so far apart in age, at least for me, there wasn't a lot of intimacy in that. It's nice to have someone that you can grow with — more of a friend as opposed to them being the successful teacher one, and you being the student, less successful, more dependent one. I would opt now for a relationship with more equality. The thing we have between us really is our craft. He wants to audition for a musical, so I'm gonna help him with the choreography. I've helped him with the choreography before when he had to dance on Dynasty. He helps me with all my self-tapes. We have a very artistic home. We're always singing, or he plays the piano, and it's a very creative space. That's the thing I like most. We have the same aesthetic; we like the same things. We move a lot, and he really trusts how I'm going to put together a home. [Despite] my longevity in the business and what I've done and the people that I've worked with already, like Billy Bob Thornton and Will Ferrell and Jay Roach, I never really got that kind of name recognition. I'm hoping that The Pitt will sort of catapult me into getting to work with some more artists that I really want to work with. Slow down, trust your instincts, and say what you mean — [but] don't say it mean. I [also] wish I appreciated that my skin wasn't wrinkly. To all the 30-year-olds out there, wear all the crop tops, wear all the short shorts. Love yourself. Love your body. Enjoy your body. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
13 Things Women Need To Stop Blaming Themselves For
In a world that often tells you to fit into a particular mold, it's easy to find yourself apologizing for simply being, well, you. Whether it's the subtle societal pressures or the not-so-subtle voices in your head, self-blame can be a persistent shadow. Let's illuminate some of the most common things women unjustly blame themselves for—because the weight of the world should never rest on your shoulders alone. Here are 15 things you need to stop beating yourself up about and start embracing with open arms and a side of sass. You've been told that emotions make you irrational or weak, but let's be real: feeling deeply is a superpower. Yet somehow, society has managed to twist this into a liability. According to Dr. Brene Brown, a research professor renowned for her work on vulnerability, emotions like shame and empathy are what connect us. So the next time someone dismisses your feelings as "too much," remember that your emotional depth is not a flaw—it's a testament to your humanity. Being emotional doesn't make you less capable or any less logical. It doesn't mean you're spiraling out of control. It means you're alive and engaged, and that's nothing to be sorry for. Let yourself feel everything because it's your emotions that make you resilient. The desire to want more from life—be it in your career, relationships, or personal achievements—does not make you greedy. Somehow, we've been conditioned to think that wanting more is a reflection of ingratitude. But pursuing your ambitions means you're aware of your potential and are willing to push the boundaries. It's about growth, not greed. We often internalize the belief that we should settle for what we have, which leads to stagnant lives stripped of passion and purpose. But let's set the record straight: settling is not the same as contentment. It is entirely possible to be grateful for what you have and still strive for more. So go ahead, want more, and don't apologize for it. The pressure to appear flawless is relentless, but it's time to debunk the myth of perfection. The truth is, no one wakes up looking like a magazine cover—not even the models in those magazines. A study published in the "Journal of Health Psychology" showed that the pursuit of physical perfection often leads to a negative body image and a decline in mental health. Embrace your imperfections; they are a testament to your uniqueness. Let's face it, beauty standards are arbitrary and fleeting. One minute, it's all about the thigh gap, and the next, it's all about curves. Instead of chasing these ever-changing ideals, focus on what makes you feel good about yourself. Confidence, after all, is the most attractive quality, and that's something you can't Photoshop. Why do we feel the need to apologize for setting boundaries? Saying "no" is not an act of defiance; it's an act of self-preservation. You don't owe anyone an explanation for protecting your time, energy, or mental health. It's time to ditch the guilt and embrace the power of a well-placed "no." Too often, we stretch ourselves thin, agreeing to things out of obligation rather than desire. This habit not only drains us but also leaves us feeling resentful. It's crucial to recognize that your time is valuable, and you have every right to decide how to spend it. Saying "no" isn't rude; it's responsible. Every career path has its own set of challenges, and it's perfectly fine if yours doesn't look like anyone else's. We've been conditioned to believe that our professional lives should follow a linear path, but that's simply not true. According to a report from the Harvard Business Review, career success is increasingly nonlinear and personalized. This means it's okay to pivot, explore, or even step back when needed. Your career is a journey, not a destination. It's essential to remember that it's okay to change your mind or pursue a path that might seem unconventional. The world is evolving, and so are the opportunities available to you. Your career choices are a reflection of your evolving self, not a measure of your worth. Aging isn't something to fear; it's something to honor. Yet the beauty industry spends billions convincing you that youth is the ultimate achievement. Each laugh line and wrinkle tells a story of joy, challenges, and triumphs. Embracing aging is a radical act of self-acceptance in a world obsessed with eternal youth. Let's not forget the wisdom and perspective that come with age. As you grow older, you become more attuned to what truly matters. Aging allows you to shed the superficial and focus on the substantial. So go ahead, celebrate every birthday and every gray hair—each one is a badge of experience. Society has an unhealthy obsession with defining women by their relationships, or lack thereof. But guess what? You're complete all on your own. Dr. Bella DePaulo, a researcher and author known for her work on single life, argues that singlehood is a valuable life choice, not a temporary state to escape from. Your worth isn't tied to whether or not you have a partner; it's tied to how you live your life. Being single can be a rich, fulfilling experience if you let it be. It's a time to explore your interests, invest in yourself, and cultivate friendships. Don't let society's timeline dictate your happiness. Whether you're single, married, or somewhere in between, remember: your relationship status doesn't define you. Mistakes are inevitable, but they are not synonymous with failure. The fear of making mistakes often paralyzes us, preventing us from taking risks or trying new things. The truth is, every error is a stepping stone to growth and learning. In fact, some of the most successful people in history are those who made the most mistakes. Mistakes are not the end of the world; they are part of your story. They are proof that you were brave enough to try. Instead of dwelling on what went wrong, focus on what you can learn from the experience. Each mistake is an opportunity to grow stronger, wiser, and more resilient. There's no shame in needing a helping hand, yet so many of us feel guilty for asking. We're conditioned to believe that self-sufficiency equals strength. But in reality, it takes a strong person to recognize when they need support. Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness; it's a testament to your self-awareness. No one can do it all, and that's perfectly okay. Life is a collaborative effort, and leaning on others can lead to deeper connections and better outcomes. Remember, it's okay to delegate, share the load, or just ask for guidance. In doing so, you empower others to do the same. Ambition is often labeled as aggressive or unfeminine, but it shouldn't be. Your drive to achieve your dreams is a positive force, not something to be ashamed of. Yet, too often, ambitious women are seen as threatening or unlikable. It's time to change that narrative. Ambition doesn't make you less caring or compassionate. It means you have goals and are willing to work hard to reach them. There's nothing wrong with wanting to make a mark on the world. Embrace your ambition and let it fuel your journey, unapologetically. Not every woman dreams of motherhood, and that's okay. The societal expectation that women should inherently be nurturers can be suffocating. Just because you don't want children doesn't mean you lack empathy or love. Your nurturing instincts can manifest in various ways that have nothing to do with diapers and nap schedules. Choosing not to have children is a personal and valid decision. Whether it's for career ambitions, personal freedom, or other reasons, your choice is your own. Don't let anyone dictate what your life should look like. You define your happiness and fulfillment, not traditional roles or societal expectations. Bodies change—it's a fact of life that doesn't require an apology. Whether it's weight gain, stretch marks, or postpartum changes, these are all part of the human experience. Society often pressures women to bounce back or maintain a certain physique. But your body is not public property; it's yours to love and respect. Each change in your body tells a story of growth, resilience, and life. It's a testament to what you've been through and where you're going. Instead of scrutinizing every flaw, celebrate your body for all it does for you. It's yours, and it's beautiful, just as it is. Why do women feel guilty for wanting a little solitude? We're so often told to be there for everyone else that we forget to be there for ourselves. Alone time is crucial for recharging, reflecting, and reconnecting with oneself. It doesn't mean you're antisocial; it means you value your own company. Solitude is where creativity and peace often flourish. It's in these quiet moments that you truly get to know yourself. Don't let guilt rob you of the joy and clarity that comes from spending time alone. It's a form of self-care that's as important as any other. Conformity is overrated, yet the pressure to fit in is real. Being different is not a disadvantage; it's an asset. Society thrives on diversity, and your unique perspective adds value to the collective tapestry. Don't dilute your individuality to blend into the crowd. Your quirks, ideas, and uncommon traits are what make you irreplaceable. It's your distinctiveness that sets you apart and paves the way for innovation and change. Embrace your differences as strengths, because they are. Celebrate them, and let them shine for the world to see. Putting yourself first is often mislabeled as selfish, but it's necessary for your well-being. You can't pour from an empty cup; taking care of yourself enables you to take care of others. Prioritizing your needs doesn't mean you're self-centered; it means you're self-aware. It's about creating a life where you can thrive. The narrative that women should always be self-sacrificing is outdated. In prioritizing yourself, you set an example for others to do the same. It's a radical act of love and respect, not just for yourself, but also for those around you. So go ahead, prioritize yourself—you deserve it.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Yorkshire beach chosen for body confidence campaign
Women in North Yorkshire are backing a campaign to challenge ageism and promote "self-acceptance". On Friday, women aged 40 and over gathered at Scarborough's North Bay for a body positivity event to mark the launch of Accepting Who We Are (AWWA). AWWA is the brainchild of model and body confidence activist Rachel Peru and self-employed businesswoman Tina Boden. Ms Boden, 57, said: "I think it's important that we, as women in our midlife, accept who we are and have that confidence to do what we want to do, in the clothes we want to wear." Ms Peru, 47, added: "We're so excited. To see women coming here today, people we've never met before, joining us on the beach in their swimwear and strutting their stuff - it's a really special day." The pair decided to collaborate after Ms Peru convinced Ms Boden to walk in the My Generation Runway Show during York Fashion Week. Ms Boden was then inspired to join a later-life model agency and compete in beauty pageants, ultimately being crowned Mrs North Yorkshire Galaxy 24/25. As part of the competition she had to model swimwear, which she said would have been out of her comfort zone before. This helped to partially inspired the AWWA campaign, as well as addressing a lack of representation for older women in swimwear campaigns, according to Ms Peru. Whitby-based photographer Mary Davies staged a photoshoot for the women, encouraging them to pose for individual and group shots. Getting the perfect angle is just one part of the wider campaign, said Ms Peru. She explained: "It's not just about taking some amazing photographs, it's about creating a safe space where people can come and enjoy the beach, whatever shape or size they are, really come together and just have fun, and forget about those body insecurities we all struggle with." The group consisted of a mix of body confidence activists, retirees and others who had seen the event being promoted on social media. Debs Daitani, 51, travelled all the way from Shropshire to attend the event, calling it a "no-brainer". "To me, it's massively important because when you go through this midlife transition, in particular to menopause, so many things can fall by the wayside," she said. "Women need to know they still have a lot of life left to live – I feel like I'm living proof of that. "This is the biggest size I've ever been, this is also the oldest I've ever been but I'm also the most confident I've ever been and I want other women to feel the same." Annie Stoke, 75, said she had borrowed her designer sunglasses from her granddaughter, who had apparently conceded that she wore them better. She said while she "hadn't quite dared" to put on a bikini, age certainly was not a factor in what she chose to wear. "We're all different shapes and sizes, we've all got tummies and wobbly bits – it does not matter one single bit. If you want to do something, just go right ahead and do it," she said. "There's nothing stopping you. You don't have to be beach ready, you are beach ready. "Just put your cozzie on and just be confident about getting out there because the sisterhood are all supporting each other." Ms Peru and Ms Boden said they hope to host more events for midlife women in the future. "It's all not making ourselves invisible. This is about creating a community of women who all support each other," Ms Boden added. Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North. Body positivity takes backseat as fashion houses pick skinnier models From New York to Instagram: The history of the body positivity movement 'Why is my body not important'?
