HEALTH

Body shaming and being bullied for how you look is *so* wrong...but sadly it happens to a lot of us. Even Rihanna. Yep, recently, people have been noticing that the singer is getting “thick" (aka gaining some weight). Her fans are praising her for it but there are others who have been downright mean. Our girl RiRi was having none of it. Her response? This meme...

 

Rihanna's haters are proof that no matter how gorgeous, confident or awesome you are, there are bullies out there who might try to bring you down for your bod. As girls, we see all these celebrities in magazines and on TV and have a tendency to want to be just like them...and because of this, we start to compare ourselves. (If you felt like you were the only one who does this, you’re definitely not alone!). I have been guilty of this multiple times in the past growing up and TBH, I still do it every so often.

In middle school, I was teased for my weight and how I wore my school uniform, even though everyone wore the same exact thing. *insert eye roll* However, this didn’t stop the comments and the chuckling behind my back or to my face. I felt really down on myself and I held onto things internally, and even though my mom and I were really close, I didn’t say anything to her about it. I was a pretty good student, never got in trouble, did my work when I was supposed to and what I noticed was that some of my classmates—my so-called friends—were hating on me for it. I couldn’t understand it and it got to a point where I was tired of being a punching bag.

Please understand that you never deserve to be treated poorly and that it's important to hold your head high and not stoop to their level. You standing up for yourself is how you respond back with love...and it’s love for yourself. This shows that no one can take advantage of your ups and downs. You might also have to cut out toxic friends and learn to surround yourself with positive influences and a supportive circle like I did.

The important thing to remember is that you can’t control what people say about you, but you *can* control how it affects you.  

Have you ever been body shamed? Let us know how you handled it in the comments! 

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Photo credit: Inquisitr.

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by Nicole Eggleston | 6/9/2017