This girl just became the UFC women's straw weight champion of the world. I'm a huge follower of the sport because it is about so much more than just watching people beating each other up (which I will save for another post lol).
After the fight card ends I generally scroll the athletes pages and watch the post conference interviews as I love to see how they manage themselves publicly after their wins and loses. I jumped on to Rose Namajunas Facebook page in which her profile picture shows her with long hair. These days she has a shaved head so it was interesting to see many peoples responses to the way she looks. I briefly came across a number of comments along the lines of 'I wish you would grow your hair back', 'wow she was pretty when she had long hair' etc. alongside many opinionated comments over multiple online channels about how she now looks without hair.
I even thought for a second, wow, if she did have long hair she would be literally a UFC marketers dream as they could really drive her promotion as this stunningly, beautiful badass athlete who is now the champion. But the unfortunate part is that with a shaved head for many people she won't meet the 'ideal' of what a woman apparently 'should' look like by society, which is sadly what is wrong with the way women are viewed in this world. With the online environment being as prominent as an influence in the world today, a woman's looks and physicality are becoming even more of focal point in regards to her 'value' because it is driven mostly by 'perfect' images.
I don't know a lot about this girl but what I do know is that she has a great message for all women. She obviously does not give one fuck about being trying to be 'pretty' based on other peoples standards, because she is more focused and committed to actually being her best, working her ass off, chasing her goals and living her dream, in her own way. She likely doesn't have time to mess around with hair every single day (nor could be bothered), because her focus is onliving her life and complete dedication to becoming the best in the world at her craft.
I see way too many women (especially younger women) these days investing all their time and energy trying to simply look good and meet society's ideal. This is at the expense of the true gifts, talents and purpose they are here to share with the world. They suppress their minds and intelligence by blindly following along what they think they need to be to find success and happiness, to wonder why they are so miserable, anxious and lost in life.
If you are obsessing about your body, your looks, and comparing yourselves to others, I can promise you that you really are missing out on your life, and at some point you will look back in regret and realise that. I can't stress enough the importance of taking time out away from the online world and other influences and having some quiet time to reconnect with yourself and find some clarity about what it is you really want in your life, what actually brings you joy, and what truly matters.
We as a society need to be a part of the change and instead of glorifying people for simply 'looking good', start celebrating and acknowledging women who do something more, have purpose, contribute to the world in a greater way, and have a message and vision for the world.
Being pretty is not an achievement.
Being pretty is not an accomplishment.
Strive to be more than just a pretty face or a beautiful body!