Smashed

I recently read a book that was very poignant. It's call Smashed: Growing up a drunk girl by Koren Zailckas. While I was one of those girls who didn't drink in high school (aka 'the geek'), I remember how my friends reacted to drinking and that 'freedom'.

So many of us start out our lives feeling quite good about who we are and how we look...children typically don't feel fat. But then, at least in my generation, the focus on looks and popularity and doing the 'right thing' started...probably around age 13 or 14. So many girls went on diets. So many slept with guys to feel attractive and okay. So many pulled away so hard from their parents that their heads were spinning.

What is it about our society that allows young women to feel so lost. And so much so that they need to turn to alcohol and other drugs to hide from these feelings of hurt & anger. Why are we told to be nice and good, and that looking perfect is part of that? What is it that makes us want to get 'smashed'?

I know women who just haven't grown from this yet. They still see themselves as awkward teens. I know women who still, in their 30s, drink to feel okay at a party or to be able to flirt better. And I know that I was that way for so very long. The things we learn in adolescence has such a strong hold. And the scary thing is that the message is being sent earlier and earlier...we have 12 year olds getting pregnant, 11 year olds in rehab, and 9 year olds dealing with eating disorders. How do we stop this? Or is this the route that eventually will cause us to implode? I don't have the answers...but I know that if I have a little girl, I'll work my darndest to make her feel okay for as long as I can. I'll never, ever, talk about diets or being 'fat' or anything like that. And hopefully, she'll grow up thinking that everything is not about looks...that she's more than that. And that she can BE.