Perhaps an explanation for yesterday’s mental mess of a blog is that I’m trying (TRYING) to get myself off the sweet nectar, elixir of (my) life, that is Diet Coke. I lasted til 4pm, which is a good start (it’s actually bloody phenomenal but I want to play it down).
Anyhoo… Gretchen’s Lists Are Good approach worked. I’m hesitant to attribute it to Gretchen specifically, as far as I’m aware To Do lists are a relatively global phenomenon employed on Most Days by Most People. Whatever, it worked and I was relatively productive pre-DC, a veritable machine post-DC. MOVE ASIDE GRETCH – chemically enhanced, sweetened beverages need room here.
Today’s blog is all about: SELF ESTEEM.
PAR example: Kelly Osbourne. She of the lavender-hued hair and fine porcelain skin is, apparently, the new “self-esteem ambassador” for St. Tropez, the self-tan company (“ah ambassador! With these orange streaky legs you are simply spoiling us!”). St Tropez have teamed up with The Princes Trust in an effort to address the problem of low body self-esteem amongst young people, and the whole campaign is fronted by Kelly O.
Now, I wouldn’t dream of disregarding the importance of such an issue – in fact, it’s about time something happened. HOWEVER. It’s just a slightly bizarre trio and, to be honest, St Tropez stick out like a sore, sun burnt thumb. What kind of illogical thought process took place? Fake tan = confidence. Of course! Get a tan and you’ll look and feel better about your body?? A tan is an integral part of having body self-esteem? WELL crack open the Diet Coke and call me Donatella
To quote Kelly:
“Dancing With The Stars and having my first ever St. Tropez spray tan was a huge confidence booster for me - it helped me to get fit and allowed me to look and feel beautiful from the outside, in. More over it also helped me to see that I can achieve anything I put my mind to, which was a huge accomplishment for me - I've never really been able to finish something I've started, and to do so feels amazing."
Perhaps a superfluous comment, but I would like Kelly to specify precisely what happened during her spray tan that ‘helped’ her get fit. A more significant issue, surely, is the concept of feeling ‘beautiful from the outside, in’. Is that the right message for young people tackling low self-esteem?! I can’t help but feel that concealed within all of this is the general assumption that with a tan you look healthier and (hush now) slimmer.
It would seem that self-esteem is a component of happiness, but not an integral part. A study assessing levels of happiness and self-esteem in a sample of 621 retired people found that the two highly correlated. Despite this, the best predictors of happiness were mood and temperamental traits and social relationships. By contrast, self esteem levels were best predicted by motivational traits – optimism, lack of hopelessness. Science part over, whilst rummaging around the virtual world in hunt of a self-esteem/happiness connection I found another truly inspirational site: The Ministry of Inspiration.
With the motto ‘We’re all superheroes pretending to be ordinary’, MoI advocate a ‘technique’ called Broadband Consciousness. Claiming it will help boost self-esteem and confidence, BC is… I’m not really sure. It sounds like brainwashing to be honest. I’m lining it up for tomorrow’s blog, but for now a quote from Richard (UK minister for MoI): 'Happiness and unhappiness are merely the high and low tides on the edge of a great sea called contentment’
I’ll mull this one over whilst enduring the strenuous work-out of a tan.
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