Where Are You Christmas?

I awake to the sound of my phone alarm going off for the third time so I begrudgingly get out of bed. It’s December 25th, also known as Christmas day. Now I don’t mean to sound like the Grinch but today is just another day of the week for me. However I haven’t always felt this way, let’s rewind back to seven year old me. I awake barely having slept all night due to excitement. I run downstairs to see presents piled under the Christmas tree. Of course I was always the first to wake and too impatient to wait for my siblings. I would run to all their rooms waking them up myself. Once everyone was awake my mom would make cinnamon buns and we would watch the parade on T.V. I know it sounds like a movie right? Fast forward to twenty-one year old me living away from home waking up mid afternoon and traveling to my parents house. Once I arrive there I’ll see a pile of presents under the tree all marked for my nieces and nephews. I know it’s not about the presents and I love to see their faces light up when they open theirs. As I watch the joy in their faces I can’t help but feel sad knowing that one day they too will turn into the pessimistic adult I am today. As I get older each year I feel my holiday spirit slipping away. You start to realize that you may not have money to buy presents or if you’re in school all you can think about are finals rather than relaxing by a fire place. It’s not just Christmas either, it’s other holidays too such as Halloween. Once you hit a certain age it’s no longer acceptable for you to run around in a costume collecting candy. Just like now it would be weird if I waited to sit on Santa’s lap. The people around you no longer asking what you will be for Halloween or what you want for Christmas. We’re adults and we need to do adult things. I really wish I could fill myself with holiday cheer but I feel like I’m just going to have to settle for nostalgia and memories. Maybe I need my ghost of Christmas past to come and remind me not to be a Scrooge. I guess at a certain point in time we all wish to rewind the clocks and go back to when things were simple, before finding out that Santa isn’t real, there’s more on T.V then just cartoons and people won’t give you candy for dressing like a princess. As my imagination fades and reality takes over I find myself struggling to feel the joy I once did as a child.

-Melanie S.

Period Related Things I Wish I’d Known at Eleven

Tea

Tea is literally my solution to all life’s problems. Try decaffeinated herbal teas like mint and oolong. Use honey not sugar.

Exercise/movement

Okay this one is tricky. You wanna avoid hardcore exercise like lifting. However, I’ve learned from high school Phys. Ed that running actually reduces cramps. Now that I’m no longer in HS Phys. Ed I aim for simple stretches, going for slow walks, and casually staying active. It is tempting to lie in bed in fetal position and groan and moan but it’s probably not the best idea for you physically or for your mood. Exercise makes you happy –endorphins and all that.

Hot Packs

Hot packs are great. After some simple and light exercise, fill one up with hot water and cuddle up with them in the coziest spot you know. Place them right on top of your abdomen and they provide soothing comfort for a few hours. This is really beneficial for the first few days when it feels like monsters are stabbing you in the gut over and and over again.

Cry

Let it out. Let it all out. It’s okay to cry as much and as often as you need to. If you’re like me and for some reason during your period you get emotional and are constantly on the verge of tears, don’t fight it. It’s better to just go with it. Get it out of your system. It’s a good mechanism for getting out pent up emotions and starting new.

Binge Eating.. Girl Don’t Do It

C’mon your acne doesn’t need any more Cheetos. Don’t. During your period is the best time to eat a salad.  Avoid feeling bogged down with heavy meaty foods. Aim for crisp and fresh. Drink some good juice blends and rebuild your body. Chocolate is okay too but if you’re gonna eat the entire Hershey’s bar then it might just have the opposite effect. Aim for a few squares of dark chocolate and really savor the taste in your mouth.

Stains, stains, stains

I’ve had a mostly heavy flow for a majority of my life. I’ve stained underwear, pants, bedsheets, and seats so many times I’ve gotten over the embarrassment and just learned to deal with it. For underwear, try and wear ones you won’t mind staining. If they do become stained don’t toss em out, run hot water over it, then with detergent scrub the stain out by hand. If you toss the stained underwear in the laundry the stain dries, and is less likely to come out completely. Same goes for bedsheets, pants, skirts and anything else. To avoid bedsheet spillage, before going to bed crumble up a piece of toilet paper and position between ya butt crack. Seriously, when you’re sleeping and moving around in all sorts of positions this will prevent any accidents and let you sleep easier. If you stain yourself in public, cover up as soon as possible. Always carry tissues with you, and just don’t worry too much about it. What are ya gonna do? You didn’t choose this life, it chose you!

Pads

Pick the right one based on your flow. Have a few different sizes. In the beginning of your period your flow might be stronger or weaker. Select your pad size accordingly and seriously change it every 2-3 hours even if it’s not full. If you wear it for too long it will cause discomfort and bad odors and funkiness ya just don’t wanna deal with. Go for pads with wings on them. Trust me you will have to deal with fewer stains.

Hot showers

Take hot showers. They will release tension in your muscles and ease your cramps. On the first few days of your period take a hot shower in the morning and one before you go to bed at night. This will ensure that your muscles are relaxed and help you feel clean.

Summer’s Eve

Ingrid Nilsen aka missglamorazzi on YouTube once revealed the products she had in her shower and talked a little about Summer’s Eve products. I look up to Ingrid a lot –and still do –and so I went out and bought myself the Summer’s Eve wash from the drug store. For a mere $5 I was set for a good few months. Summers Eve products help control pH levels and actually leave you feeling super fresh down there. FRESH is the goal you guys. No one likes feeling funky and sluggish and gross.

Summer Body is YOUR Body!

         “The Perfect Beach Body”, is reiterated across every headline as the warm weather approaches. However this hype of a “summer body” is always targeted towards us females more than males. In fact summer 2015 is becoming the summer of the “dad bod.” The men are being praised for gaining a little extra while women are being ridiculed.One minute they want us to be skinny then the next we have to be curvy. Looking back through history you can see how body types for women have changed. BuzzFeed actually has a video on YouTube titled “Women’s Ideal Body Types Throughout History,” this is a perfect illustration of how standards always evolve.

         During the Italian Renaissance plump, voluptuous women were being celebrated. If you take a look at art from this era bigger women are the muse. Fast forward all the way to the 1960’s, when skinny became the new look to admire. Now women were being photographed; flip through any magazine between the 1960’s to the 2000’s and it’s all skin and bones. Today in the year 2015, I have no idea what body type is being admired. One day there telling girls to look petite like Mila Kunis and Selena Gomez and the next day they want them to be thick like Kim Kardashian and Beyonce. All these women are beautiful in their own way but why should we aspire to look like them?  

         Our lives have become more and more like beauty pageants as society judges us more based on our appearance rather than the many attributes we have. A woman can’t even run for president without her sense of style being scrutinized. We’re told to love our bodies as long as it fits within the mold that society has created for us. This mold usually takes form in clothing. As you walk through your favorite store in the mall “California girls” is playing and there are posters of some photo shopped model plastered around the walls. Even the mannequins look better in the clothes, as they should, they were made to fit them. You begin walking towards the dressing room with fun, flirty summer clothes as the signs around the store stated. As you try on the third dress you begin realizing  you’re not “summer ready” because the crop top didn’t look like the girl in the poster and now this dress looks all wrong. Instead of shrugging our shoulders and just looking for more clothes, we walk out with a mixture of misery and humiliation. Let’s walk back in there with confidence and take back our bodies from society.

       Yes, there will always be judges on the sidelines but we have to  silence them out. Summer 2015 and every summer after that should be promoting loving yourself and the body you have. Yes, you can change your body if you want to but change always takes time so love who you are in the now. Love your body for what it was yesterday, for what it is today and what it will be tomorrow.  

                                                                                                                                            Truly yours,

                                                                                                                                                 Melanie S.

P.S.

Found this gem on Tumblr!