14 DAY TRIAL // Comedienne and actress Sarah Silverman is the latest celebrity blogger invited by women’s publication Glamour magazine to pen an op-ed on a topic of her choosing. Because humor runs in Sarah’s blood, her essay on body acceptance and a happy life is unlike anything else you might have read.
And, while it’s funny as hell, it also offers very valuable advice on what it’s like to “woman up.” Silverman writes from experience and she writes with humor, but her advice to all her female readers could be easily summed up in just a handful of words: love yourself no matter what.
On the topic of growing old, Silverman preaches complete body acceptance, saying that this natural process isn’t something to avoid or dread.
“I know, aging is like a really slow-moving horror movie, especially for women. But the lines on our faces are valuable. When I see people with fillers or weirdo stretched-out faces, I’m like, You look crazy. Your skin is gonna change. Mine is changing now. It’s getting looser. It’s how it is, OK?” she says.
It’s OK because she has learned to treat herself and her body with a little more respect. The more you say bad things about yourself, the more you’ll start to believe them. At the end of the day, Sarah says, it’s all a matter of perspective: what’s beautiful to one person might be ugly to another, and the other way around.
“Instead of droning on and on about how the tops of your strong, working thighs touch, why don’t you ask your friends how they’re doing, huh? I’ve caught myself feeling utter disgust looking at myself naked, and then I realized: If I was someone else, I would think, She’s beautiful and strong! If we were half as nice to ourselves as we are to any [expletive]-ing stranger on the street, we’d be winning,” Silverman believes.
She also urges women not to wait for a man to “complete” them but to go out and find a man who is his own person, just as they are their own. Everyone should follow their dreams and take the initiative, and not wait around for great things to happen to them – and then feel frustrated when they don’t.
Another piece of sound advice Sarah offers, also touching on the topic of beauty, is that you should always brush your teeth, floss, and clean your tongue. She jokes that “death creeps in through the gums,” but she does make a valid point.
The full essay is available over at Glamour magazine.