Comparison has always been around, but in the world of social media, it upgraded its’ depth and speed greatly, in far more unrealistic ways.
It’s no longer supermodels on magazine covers and celebrities with overtly large homes that we see on the news that earns our comparison, but the Jones’ next door – except our neighbours are our followers on Instagram in the comparison hood.
We are tuned in such an in-depth way to our comparative tendencies, that they have become the soundtrack to our lives – causing us to battle self-confidence and unrealistic perfectionism. You’d be forgiven for thinking “why even bother, someone else has already done it better and posted it,” every once in a while.
However, every once in a while, one of society’s allocated perfect gems of the world comes out and says ‘actually, I’m an uncut gem too.’
Rolene Strauss may have seemed like she was the sparkling gem of South Africa for a long time. She was former Miss South Africa in 2014, and Miss World after all. On top of that, she’s a medical doctor, a businesswoman and a published writer.
However, her recent book might change the way you think – not only about the diamond humans of the world but of yourself, and your inner diamond too.
In her book, Rolene shares her personal journey of how she has battled with insecurities and body image issues throughout her life – and even whilst wearing the crown of the world.
Rolene has been on the perfectionists’ cutting board from her days as a young gazelle.
“At the age of 16, I found myself standing in front of an elderly lady with a measuring tape as she had to take some of my measurements before I could travel to Paris. She took the tape, put it around my waist and said 95 cm, we need to get it down to at least 90 cm little lady,” reads one of the book’s excerpts.
She navigates in her work that from the age of 16, she battled self-confidence, but aptly no one seemed to believe her. This is a reason the book was so important to create for our heroine author – to tell a truth that people wouldn’t expect, and to express that it really never is as luxurious as it seems. Perfectionism has a price, and often it’s the price of our confidence.
Through her personal tellings, the beautiful words hope to bring others into the conversation of self-worth, by sharing Rolene’s guide to rediscovering self-confidence – a sparkle of light that many of us who feel like we’re still yet to shine, might love in a time where comparison and low self-esteem are set on spoiling the wonders we may have forgotten we already have within us.
Rediscover Your Self-Confidence, Seven Steps to a New You is out now, and it will definitely be the topic of wholesome book clubs all over the country and the world.
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Picture; Instagram @rolenestrauss
