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Lopez Evelyn

English 101

Professor Batty

May 10, 2017

Self- Love Comes First

Self-love is the happiness you bring amongst yourself when you feel confident. You feel

courageous enough to wear a bathing suit at the beach and not care about what other people say.

Self- love is one of the most important things for your self-esteem; in the book Still water Saints

I will be introducing a character who finds herself uncomfortable with the way she is. She feels

as if shes not worthy of herself and describes why others may not like her. Rosa receives help

from Perla and Blanca to find herself in a comforting place. Rosa sees herself negatively and

goes in detail about how she is unhappy and why cant she have a supermodel figure.

The pressure to be a perfect teenager is a Victoria secret model now in days. Different

images of a perfect person are on television screens, magazines, movies, advertisements, and

so on. In the book Rosa explained to Blanca she doesnt get me. Says that I mope too much

and that I should learn to be more confident. (Espinoza 13) I can relate this problem

happening today with young females. Often they want to change their appearance to look

different like their hair color or the way they dress. They are not accepting of the way they

already look so they just want to change who they are appearance wise. Rosa was never
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proud under her own skin just because she said she would see the rolls under her shirt and her

body was just out of her control.

Discouragement comes from the people around you who dont think youre capable of

succeeding a goal. In the Newspaper article The Body Beautiful it explained You may

think your thighs are too fat, your knees too chubby or bony, your feet to big, your neck too

short, your bust to small or a hundred other things Ive heard from friends. Anyone who

is closest to you get that hopelessness in you because they think it is okay to feel free and

speak their mind on body appearances. In the case of Rosa she saw that Blanca would always

speak her mind and ask her if her teas even took effect on her body. Her mother never

allowed Blanca to show that type of attitude towards Rosa because her great grandfather was

the same way. Rosas mother never enjoyed the fact that he would call her names like

gorda. Words like that lead to insecurities and loss of hope towards yourself.

Although Rosa was the type to discourage herself and not see her true colors, she was a

very inspirational and saint like person. She gave herself some sense that she wasnt all that

ugly on her body shape. Rosa badly wants to lose weight for herself and she kept doing her

part exercising and drinking her teas every day. In the book still water saints her mother

awfully told her Look at that body. Do you want to go on living like that? (Espinoza 24)

That never stopped her from living her life, she was always going into Perlas Botanica to

seek advice and she was always told five pounds is five pounds shell eventually reach the

goal she wanted. She met a boy Miguel Angel who she couldnt even believe that he was

interested in her. They had a conversation about her not always looking the way she was right

now and how she used to be thin. He commented back to her Well I wasnt always this
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nice. This Spoke a lot because he told her regardless of any change life will always keep

moving regardless of how you look or what is happening around you.

Many people find it hard to accept themselves just because they care about what other

people say. The Huffington Post article about The Art of Self-Love says Dont be afraid to

raise your glass and toast to that amazing person whos conquered their every challenge:

you. It really made an impact for Rosa when Miguel Angel came into her life because she

experienced different feelings towards herself mostly that not everyone cares about looks. It

is said that your biggest enemy is yourself and that is how Rosa saw herself. She pointed out

that she was fat and Miguel angel told her So you are. So what. Youve got plenty to feel

good about. He was of those people that encouraged her to stop thinking about her negative

body image and start loving herself regardless of how she looked.

Rosa was the type to want someone to want her for her own insecurities. She got the life

she practically wanted and she turned out to very big hearted. She was brave enough to find

herself a job so she can occupy herself. Miguel Angel Changed her way of thinking because

he didnt care what so ever about how she looked, her big heart was the main thing about her.

Rosas emotions are similar to young women today; In the Article Kardashian weight loss it

stated these physically exhausting and often painful processes can offer contestants an easier

solution than looking inward and addressing the deeper emotional issues that create these

feelings. It is explaining how in recent events men and women want to lose weight because

they feel unhappy about their body image but that will never stop them from reaching the

goal they want. It is a tough start at first and it may seem like a long process and no results

show just how Rosa saw herself. She felt as if she wasnt seeing results towards her body and
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was impatient but again she tried occupying herself and doing her part by drinking her teas

and doing her exercises every day.

Rosa is a very inspirational Icon because of the way she handled her problem. She felt as

if nobody wanted her but when people started coming into her life like Miguel Angel she

realized it wasnt the end of the world. In the Article the Art of Self-Love it states We

automatically critique, blame, and fault ourselves for nearly everything, rarely

acknowledging the things we do well or those we ought to be proud of. Show yourself daily

doses of well-deserved appreciation. We need to always be accepting of ourselves because

that being said we are always our biggest enemy just because we know how we will hurt and

what the right words are to hurt. Love all your curves and whatever shape you are, no matter

how big, small, thin, and thick. Self-love is what Rosa found in herself and that shot her to

the direction of loving others. She and Miguel angel created a family and she still continued

to maintain a weight she wanted, you are in control of your own life and maybe she wasnt as

curvy and skinny as she wanted but she learned to be very accepting.
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Work Cited

Kardashian Weight-loss show perpetuates body image insecurity. UWIRE text 9 feb. 2017 1.

Academic OneFile. Web. 1 May 2017

Wills, Judith. The body beautiful. Sunday Star- Times Sept.2010, p. E21. EBSCO host.

Harra, Alexandra. "The Art of Self-Love." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 02 Feb.

2014. Web. 10 May 2017.

Espinoza, Alex. Still Water Saints: A Novel. London: Picador, 2013. Print.