Don't dream it, be it

by Dustin Woods
Contributing Writer

How much of the way we perceive ourselves is based on our own perception versus reality or even the perceptions of those around us? Though I'm not a psychologist and have never formally studied the topic I believe I am an expert enough to write about the topic of self-image. I have enough experience dealing with my own perceptions of self; in fact, everyone on earth is an expert in the topic.

I say this to point out that you don't have to put pen to paper to take an introspective adventure exploring how you see yourself.

Close your eyes, considering only one thing: yourself. Then form a mental image of the person you see yourself as. What do you see? Is your mental construct your current age? Weight? Height? Gender? Does your hair look the same or is it a different style, length or color? How did you dress your mental construct, if at all?

Now that you're comparing the mental image ‘you’ to the actual ‘you’, how similar are the two?

When I perform this thought exercise, I find that my reality differs significantly from my mental self-image. I see myself with the long, thick, not a single grey hair I graduated high school with. I envision the body I had four years ago, a few inches taller, wearing a button up shirt and jeans.

Though not every physical attribute I envision in my own mental image is attainable, some of them are. I can't grow a few inches, but I could wear shoes with heals or platforms. I could get hair transplant surgery but I doubt I'd ever be able to have the long luscious locks of hair I used to have.

There is one thing I do have the ability to change, but I haven't found the will power to do so: my weight.

Many of our physical attributes are static, never changing no matter how much time passes. But one aspect of our bodies is dynamic and changes depending upon the conditions we subject it to. It sounds simple to say we are in control of our own bodies, but in reality, it is much more complicated.

Genetics alone throws a large enough monkey wrench into the argument that we are the masters of our own physique that I can't say we have absolute control over our own body type.

But I can say we have significant enough control that we can make great strides to achieve the weight we desire.

I've gone on a roller coaster ride when it comes to weight. I started college weighing 120 pounds, I graduated (undergrad) weighing 190 pounds and I topped out at 235 pounds. I nearly doubled my body weight in eight years.

Then I refocused on myself and my weight problem and fought to get myself down to 160 pounds and today I'm back to 190. Up and down, my weight fluctuations over time responded to the financial and emotional roller coaster in my life at those times.

I know that within myself lies the ability to change my negative perceptions of my body image. I know that ability isn't innate only to myself but to everyone. We can’t rely only on how bad we want something to actually achieve that thing. We must turn that desire into motivation and use that motivation to spur action.

If seeing super fit people in bathing suites gives you a desire to look similar turn that into the motivation to take action to work out and eat healthy. Also, don't let the season change divert your focus, as resting on your laurels will mean your shirt will always be resting on your protruding gut.

And so, I leave you with a call to action. Find your motivation to achieve your ideal self and for those of you who are already ideal, keep that motivation going. For those of us still on that long road to self-realization I leave you with a powerful statement from a play/movie that is near and dear to the community. “Don't dream it, be it!”

Copyright 2017 The Gayly – July 23, 2017 @ 7:25 a.m.