March 7, 2023
Being you suits you – more empowerment for everyone!
by Lena Severin
Being you suits you - the sentence that always characterizes March at JUNGLÜCK. And not just since this year. It has now accompanied us for the third time on the occasion of International Women's Day. And for the third time I have been thinking about it. Safe to say: I have already spent quite a lot of time with this sentence. And sometimes, in the daily background noise, you lose the feeling of how special and meaningful this sentence actually is. That applies not only to these words, but to so much more. For people close to your heart, special days, gentle glances in the mirror and shouted "I love you's". Not losing sight of the beauty in the everyday, the unspectacular and perhaps even the boring is an art in itself. While everything normal passes us by, life simply flows along and the day just happens, we forget far too often to stop for a moment, to wait, to breathe, to pause and to hold on to what is special about us: that we are who we are. And that we are allowed to be.
Being you suits you - it's authentic, pure and effortless. That's how it should be when you are you. With all the facets, layers, corners, wrinkles, edges, scars, curves, thoughts and feelings that make you who you are. I know that it's not easy for most people to accept themselves as they are. We are subject to many expectations, ideals, ideas and constraints. We allow ourselves to be restricted, captured. We let our heads be turned, our authenticity taken away and we somehow no longer feel like ourselves, but trapped in constraints, duties and pigeonholes.
Our bodies are marked by life. Lots of little marks that all tell their own story. Spots, freckles, wrinkles and fine lines, stretch marks, scars, dents and bumps. It is precisely these marks and their stories that we are devoting ourselves to this year.
Accepting ourselves, loving ourselves, feeling comfortable in our own bodies is a very powerful feeling. A feeling that gives us power, that encourages us to keep looking forward and frees us from ideals, constraints and expectations. Feeling comfortable in our own bodies is a powerful feeling that empowers us not to stop where our own skin ends.
Being you suits you – loving yourself is only the beginning.
We are under pressure. Not just for our bodies - there are norms and names, categories and boxes for everything that we have to fit into at all costs. But do we even want to fit in? We don't need any templates for being a woman.
Who says women have to be gentle, forgiving and always patient? Who says mothers can't be career-loving power women? Who says girls can't become skaters, fighters, CEOs or bricklayers? Who says female bodies have to be a certain shape? And because feminism isn't just for women: Who says boys shouldn't dance ballet? That men can't cry and always have to be strong? Who says we have to restrict ourselves to fit in somewhere?
The truth is that we all just want to be ourselves, without mercy or compromise. We want to be accepted and loved and to love ourselves as we are, from head to toe. And that is exactly what we all deserve. That is what you deserve.
We are on the right track to granting ourselves freedom and creating more space in which we can unfold, discover and develop. A lot is happening: inclusion, diversity, representation, acceptance and love - for everyone. And a lot still needs to be done.
Being you suits you - this should not only be a reminder for you to feel comfortable in your skin, with your body, with your entire self, but also to grant this same right to all other people. Because feeling comfortable in your own body, with your own self, is a powerful feeling. An empowering feeling. Let's use this power for something good: for more space, more acceptance, more love, more authenticity - in other words, being more you. For everyone.