The Goldilocks syndrome

It’s difficult to look at women in the public eye these days without noticing the odd tuck here and the odd injection there.

However much we condemn people for altering their faces and appearance, can we really stand here and criticise what we have created. We are encouraged by countless magazines, beauty books and doctors that the way to happiness is perfection. We must eat a balance diet - everything in moderation- we much have a balanced life, we must exercise, (but not too much and not too little.) We must be dedicated to our children; but not too much as we’ll se seen as overbearing but too little or we’ll be seen to neglect. We must strive for the perfect figure, we must have just enough fat, but we can’t have too little. If we are dedicated to work then we are seen to be cold, heartless joyless, yet we take the time to step out of the rat race and there are another set of disparaging labels.

It sounds very much like our society has been struck with a Goldilocks syndrome; nothing’s right unless it’s perfect and balanced; nothings acceptable unless it’s bench marked against the “blueprint of life”. But there is no blueprint, there’s no template; there’s life, and there’s living. Goldilocks had it easy! Unfortunately for us striving to get it right isn’t laid out in front of us so easily, we can’t pick and choose which suits us best as we spend our whole lives looking for perfection which really isn’t there and criticising those who get it wrong.

Although this is an epidemic which affects men & women, in my experience women fight with the “shoulds” constantly; should she be a good mother or a business woman; should she be a sensual goddess or a shrinking violent, should she be a pear shape or boyish physique.

I find that woman’s physique is judged and condemned on a daily basis yet we do nothing to stop it. It pales in comparison to the torture, abuse and violence which is inflicted on women around the world, we condemn the perpetrators, fight for justice shed tears for those in pain; and so we should. We also need to fight for those who are trapped in a life of perfection; I feel pain and sadness for those who live in a bubble where their body is tortured by diets and excessive exercise. I hope for the day the penny drops and we all realise that the search for the “not too much and not too little” lifestyle belongs firmly in the story books.