Imagine waking up one morning to find that you are using your unique talents in a fully satisfying way, that you feel wonderful in your body, and that your life feels rich and complete.
Now ask yourself, how much time and money have you spent trying to live up to the cultural ideal of female beauty? Every year Americans spend over $40 billion on dieting. People put massive life energy into studying the latest diet, planning menus, agonizing over food choices, depriving themselves, and doing forms of exercise they don’t even enjoy. There is so much more to life than the endless quest to make the body look like the cultural beauty ideal.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Before the dieting craze began, people defined themselves much more by who they were and what they did in the world. They spent their life energies enriching the world around them instead of spending their time trying to look beautiful. They focused on their family, their community, and their unique talents.
Today women are subtly taught to define themselves strictly by how they look. And the look we’re taught to desire isn’t even obtainable. Only 5% of women are...