This article is brought to you by underwear that doesn’t ask you to change.

It’s a little ironic, isn’t it? The influencer reminding you to love yourself - usually someone who hasn’t touched bread since 2007 and whose holy trinity consists of a supplement sponsor, a Pilates coach, and Photoshop.

This isn’t a manifesto in praise of giving up. I’m not suggesting we all collapse onto the couch and abandon the basics of good health. I’m just wondering - whatever happened to balance?

Maybe we took a wrong turn when “wellness” started sounding more like self-discipline than joy. Or maybe it was the moment “you can be anything” began to feel like “you must be everything.”

People often talk about the pressure of what others expect. Here’s a thought: no one’s really thinking about you. They don’t have time. Everyone’s too busy thinking about themselves - just like you are. While you're focused on how your belly peeks between two shirt buttons, someone else is quietly panicking about their hairline, their relationship, or whether seaweed supplements are actually the answer to their bloating.

We’re all the stars of our own private Truman Shows, utterly convinced the world is watching - while the audience left after the opening scene to scroll Instagram from the toilet.

This is me, and I’m done apologizing for existing. Even to myself.

And yet, the performance continues. We dress not for ourselves, but for the imagined approval of strangers. We squeeze, we smooth, we minimize. We become so careful, so unremarkable, we almost disappear.

But what if self-acceptance isn’t the curated, likes-driven plea we see online? What if it’s quieter than that - a simple decision: this is me, and I’m done apologizing for existing. Even to myself.

You might not need a dramatic transformation. Or maybe the biggest shift should be in how you see yourself. And no, that doesn’t happen overnight - I speak from experience.

Start small. Maybe with underwear. The kind made for people, not for ideals.

Call it a stretch, but if fashion has contributed to the growing sense of not-enoughness, maybe it can help undo some of the damage - from the inside out. It all begins with the pattern. When the design actually takes into account real bodies - and the fact that when size changes, shape does too. Curves, angles, and the occasional existential bloat.

Well-designed underwear doesn’t squeeze or scold. It just fits. Without requiring you to shrink first.

I’m not against effort. Or movement. Or wanting to feel good in your body. That can be fantastic. But there’s a difference between living well and constantly editing yourself into something more palatable. That’s not virtue. That’s exhaustion.

Even these underwear won’t change your life. But at least they won’t make you feel like a project.