Change Room Horror


Change Room Horror
CHANGE ROOM HORROR!

Have you ever had one of those days when you go shopping and your reflection in the mirror sends you into a panic? I went shopping recently intending to buy the perfect outfit to wear to my best friend's birthday party and stumbled across an itty-bitty pair of gold hotpants.

I don't know if it was a vision of looking like Kylie Minogue, or just plain morbid curiosity, but I tried them on - and looked like something from an X-File.

This set the tone for the whole shopping trip. I spent the best of a glorious Saturday tearing garments off in disgust and examining myself in the mirror from angles I've never seen before. Is it just me, or are some of the fashions of the moment (and mirror angles in change rooms) slightly unkind to the average Aussie girl?

Sick of the pushy sales girls who insisted on pulling the curtain aside, cooing "FAAAAABULOUS", inviting the entire shop to gawk at the ghastly white midget girl, I headed home with a full purse and a heavy heart, cursing my ancestors for my defective genes!

Driving home, I had a revelation. What the hell was I thinking - HOTPANTS!? Let's face it, the only person who looks hot in them anyway is the pert bummed Sophie from Search for a Supermodel and she's a (lucky) gene pool freak! Growth spurts have passed me by, so my legs won't be getting any longer this lifetime, and Irish genes will ensure I'm curvier than I'd sometimes like, but at least everything works.

We can become so absorbed and obsessed with the images we are bombarded with in magazines and on TV, that it's easy to lose sight of what normal, average girls look like. I bet Sarah Michelle Gellar doesn't have the luxury of gorging herself on pizza, ice cream and Twisties when the urge strikes. I'm now resigned to the fact I'm happy being average, and the Sarah Michelle Gellars of the world can keep the hotpants.

My New Year's Resolution is that I be kind to myself and be grateful for what I've got, because short of plastic surgery, this is the body I have to live with, and you know, on closer inspection with a less critical attitude, its really not THAT bad.

- Rachael

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