Abi’s Story #findyourinnerwarrior
This is Abi, you all know her as one of the models for Askari and will have seen her looking fierce in the clothing but what many of you don’t know is the courage that it took Abi to do the photoshoot in the first place. Since a young age Abi has always been conscious of the way she looks. She has openly said that this has stemmed from the environment she grew up in and the culture she was around. Coming from a Sri Lankan background she often finds that as a woman when she meets people from her community the first thing they comment on is the way she looks such as “ohhh you lost too much weight or you gained too much weight”. Another aspect of this is also colourism where people make comments like “your skin has gotten darker/ more tanned” which is seen to be an insult as people believe the fairer your skin the more beautiful you are. If you’re not slim and if you’re not fair you’re not deemed attractive.
However there are a few reasons Abi has got to a place where she is happier with her body and does not take these stereotypes into account anymore. She has been told several times that if she lost weight she would look better (which I’m sure you can all agree is not the case because she looks stunning anyway) but the way she started dressing after university helped her change her perception. At home Abi was never allowed to wear fitted clothes or even clothes that revealed her skin slightly (not even her shoulders!!) but at university she started to find her own sense of style and the more she explored this the more confident she got about the way she looked. It’s true what they say, when you dress good you feel good.
Something else that Abi kept mentioning was surrounding herself with more positive thoughts and positive people including on social media. There was a time where she deleted social media as she found she was always comparing herself to other women with certain body types. It constantly weighed on her mind that she did not look like them and always wanted to become skinnier. However when she decided she was ready to get back onto social media she started with a clean slate and only followed pages that were good for her mind and body. To add onto this she fed her mind positive thoughts by reading some inspirational books such as Good Vibes Good Life by Vex King, Dear Sonali, Letters to the Daughter I Never Had by Lynn Toler and Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty. This helped her come to terms with loving her body and helped her maintain a good state of mind for self-love.
The final reason Abi became more body positive was because of her passion for drama and acting. Her drama teacher in high school really pushed Abi to go for roles and play characters she never thought she would get the chance to. In the back of her mind she would always think “would I embarrass my family if I did play a role like this” however after some convincing she managed to overcome thoughts like these. She is now even a member of the National Youth Theatre and her confidence on stage has helped her come to terms with her body and be happy with it. “There is a new generation of BAME actors, directors and creatives ready to make an impact and change the entertainment scene and I can’t wait”. Abi still continues to act professionally and recently starred in an amazing short film. I am so proud of her journey so far and the amazing job she is doing speaking up about body positivity in the Asian community. If anyone needs any support after reading this story please feel free to DM @askariclothing.