“So, you’ve let yourself go”

By: Christa Nicola


I recent conversation with my mother sparked an outcry of controversy, mixed in with a dash of grimace and a dollop of irritation.

“You’ve let yourself go,” she says to me in a stern voice.

Now, to me and hoping to most of Australia, letting yourself go means: you’ve put on weight, and by weight I mean you now look like a walrus.

Being only 5ft, and might I say so myself of a petite frame (size 8-10)- I most definitely don’t think that is letting yourself go. However to my mother, a few extra follicles of eye brow hair and dirty clothes on the floor are an invitation to express an opinion on her study-a-holic daughter’s body.

To most, weeks 11-12 of university is the strenuous crunch-study time and if you know me personally, you will know that weeks 11-12 are added stresses to what is previously endured throughout the semester.

Now to think that my main priority was university, made me laugh, as obviously my mother feels it’s necessary that beauty should be number one. Unfortunately, my weeks planning was not to get some Pure Indulgence facials, or to get a manicure- but it was clearly to read thousands upon thousands of Contracts Notes, while not trying to miss Sunday’s Grey’s Anatomy and Brother’s and Sisters – to my dismay both are taped. Apparently, reading and studying is the answer to why so many young girls are letting themselves go- according to my mother.

Seeing as the fascination of celebrity status and sex appeal has reached an all-time high. Peer pressure isn’t helping the issue of vanity and anorexia diminish that one bit. However, no-one told me there was such a thing as Parental-vanity-pressure. As under my household if you’re not looking as sexy as Eva Longoria, or as sultry as Jennifer Lopez. I think it’s a subtle way of saying: MOVE OUT OF HOME or please pay rent.

Now I assure you all that, my mother did apologise to me.

However, a tip to those who feel that they are not up to there parents saying that they are both ugly and fat. Girl’s wax your eye-brows, get regular hair-cuts, keep up-to-date with fashion (i.e. VOGUE) and make sure your room is free from clothes all over the floor.