"The Model Isn't Real": Repeat 3 Times

Of course we've all been there: glancing at a magazine cover featuring a model with a perfect body, then sighing inwardly, wishing we could look like that. I'm sure even men experience this (I mean, have you seen men's fitness magazine covers? Are those six-packs made of concrete?)

It seems like whatever we do, wherever we look, we are bombarded with images of perfect human bodies that make ours feel inadequate.

For years, I've bemoaned a cruel fate that would have me look like a one-ton truck compared to these models who showed off their perfect, extremely toned arms, flat bellies and long, lean legs almost everywhere I turned.

Until finally, I realized that these perfect human beings seemed to exist only on paper, billboards and TV.

Now, at the age of 35, I'm (at last!) happy with the way I look, because I know that to look like one of those models is impossible. Because they're not real.

Oh, sure, there are real people behind those pictures, but they don't look like that on their own.

Here's a video you may have seen on YouTube:

Ok, so here's the deal. Next time you're waiting in line to pay for groceries, and you happen to have a glance at the latest Cosmopolitan, instead of excusing yourself and making a dash for the Ben&Jerry's in the frozen food section, repeat three time: "The model isn't real."

I'm healthy (which is what really counts, isn't it?) I exercise and I eat well. I won't ever look like Gwyneth Paltrow. Because I can't afford personal trainers, I don't have time to work out ten hours a day, and I'd quickly get sick of eating nothing but salad. And also because I'm just not born that way.

Besides, there are few things better in life than being married to a guy who tells me I'm beautiful just as I am.

Take that, cover girls.

What goes through your mind when you look at a magazine cover? Please leave a comment.