2019-08-01_Men_s_Health_South_Africa

Be Imperfect – ProudlyWith the world watching her since she was crowned Miss World back in 2014, Rolene has learnt that the public eye isn’t always the kindest place to be. After enduring a lot of body shaming, she realised that she didn’t have to be perfect; she just had to accept who she was, and she encourages others to do the same.

“I think that’s something that a lot of women

and men go through, and it steals their self-confidence,” she says. “If you measure yourself against perfect, you’ll always come short. Once you starting working towards feeling good from the inside out and wanting to live a rejuvenating life, that makes a big difference.”Don’t Live For The Likes“I think that social media can be a double-edged sword,” says Rolene. Which is true. Social media is a great way to grow your business and keep in touch with friends and family, but there are numerous studies that show social platforms can also be bad for your mental health.

“These online social spaces are often used

by women and men to look at others and tell themselves that ‘I want to look like that’, which can impact them in a bad way. I think one of the reasons for that is because we measure ourselves according to what we believe is ’perfect’. And what we believe we

should

look like. Once you

free yourself from that, it’s easy to let go and just be you.”Look Beyond The VisualsBecoming a mom changed Rolene’s mindset concerning her body. It was no longer about the aesthetics, because she had a greater purpose: parenthood.

“I think the biggest thing that helped me was

to realise that it’s not about what I look like, but how healthy I am. And especially when I became a mother – I realised that I want to be healthy, because I want to be the best mom that I can be.”

Focusing more on the functional aspects of

your body and not just on its appearance can help you develop more self-belief and spend less time comparing yourself to the people around you. “I think that once I made that shift, I started exercising and eating more healthily for my

health

, and not for

the way it looked or would make me look.

“The visual will follow automatically when you

live healthily. That mindset change was the best.”

PHOTOGRAPH BY

SEAN LAURENZ