Find me on WeChat/Weibo − Uncategorized − 陈愉 Joy Chen − is on a mission to help 100 million Chinese women seize their full potential

Find me on WeChat/Weibo

陈愉 Joy Chen 2017-01-16 Post a comment

Dear friend:

Happy new year! I hope this note finds you enjoying the warmth and happiness of connecting with loved ones.

This past summer, my family and I enjoyed a wonderful month in China during which we had a chance to visit with some of you. Since then, I’ve been barricaded in my office in Los Angeles, learning and creating as I write my second book, on how to find the career of your dreams. I hope to release this book in the summer of 2017.

The new year also brings another fun new project, as I launch a new blog series on my WeChat public platform, every Sunday and Thursday night China time at 9:00pm. Called TWO MINUTES OF JOY #两分钟的JOY#, each post will start with a 2-3 minute audio file of me reading an essay I’ve written about love, or life, or careers. Following that, we’ll insert my English essay, and its Chinese translation. This project will give you a great chance to practice speaking local American English with me!

Since everyone seems to find me on WeChat or Weibo, this will be my last email to this list. Below is a recent post from this new WeChat blog. (Sorry I don’t know how to include the audio file here, so if you want to hear that, please click through the title to the original post!)

If you like this post, you can subscribe to the WeChat blog at <ohqueens> or via the QR code at bottom. If you’re not on WeChat or Weibo, you can still follow me on Facebook here.

Cheers to a new year in 2017 – and a new chance for us to get it right, both in our lives and in our world.

Big hug,
Joy

#4: Can we all stop obsessing about beauty, already?

Hey everyone! This is Joy, with the fourth episode of “两分钟的JOY.”What music are you listening to these days? I’ve been loving every single track on Meghan Trainor’s latest album “Thank You.”

One thing that makes Meghan different from many of the other pop stars out there is her body shape.

Because she’s not skinny-skinny like Taylor Swift or Selena Gomez, Hollywood calls her “plus-sized.” Because she dares to be normal-sized and still be herself, Rolling Stone magazine in 2014 deemed her the year’s “Most Unlikely Pop Star.” Well, in the face of skepticism from the overlords of the music industry, Meghan Trainor became a global icon for self-love – and oh by the way, won the 2016 Grammy for Best New Artist.

Check out this one of her lyrics: “I’ve been on a low-hater diet.”

When I first heard it, I thought, “Is ‘hate’ too strong a word to describe how women feel about their bodies?” Then I realized, no, sadly, many woman do regard their bodies with… hatred.

Here in the United States, there’s been a growing movement, called “fat acceptance” or “body positivity,” which encourages media and society to expand our definition of beauty. This movement tells us “All bodies are good bodies! We’re all beautiful!”

There’s lots to admire about this movement. I support the broadening of our definition of beauty, and the valuing of the beauty of every woman.

At the same time, I must say, I am getting sick and tired of all the attention to beauty.

Of course beauty is important, and of course as humans we have an instinctive attraction to physical beauty. I try my best to look beautiful. But seriously, beauty is not everything! We are more than just our bodies. We are capable of so much more than simply looking hot. We need to learn to value women not just for our beauty, but also for all those things that make each of us human.

Your body. Your face. YOU. You are great enough.

The way to get the world to stop judging us all simply on our bodies, and to start paying attention to who the hell we actually are, is for us all to get on a low-hater diet, and start unleashing our voices and our talents into the world.

I mean, just look at Meghan Trainor. Just listen to her. Her beats, her lyrics, her voice, and her sassy, swaggering self-confidence. Everything about her just makes me wanna get up and dance. Have a listen, and you’ll see why I’m a fan.

Ain’t she great?! That’s it for today, folks. And hey everyone, don’t forget to SMILE BIG & ENJOY YOURSELF!

两分钟的JOY | 4.不要再一门心思只关注”美”了，好吗？

哈喽大家好！我是Joy。这是“两分钟的JOY”栏目的第四篇文章。

你最近喜欢听什么音乐呢? 我最近超爱Meghan Trainor的最新专辑《Thank You》，每支单曲都棒极了。

相比其它一众流行歌手，Meghan有一个非常与众不同的地方：她的身材。因为Meghan不具有像Taylor Swift或Selena Gomez那样极度苗条的身材，好莱坞称她为“大号姑娘”。也正因她敢于以正常身材示人，勇于做自己，滚石杂志在2014年封她为“最不可思议的明星”。在音乐界大佬们的一片质疑声中，Meghan Trainor成为风靡全球的“爱自己”icon——哦对了，她还赢得了2016年度格莱美最佳新人奖哦。

来看她这句歌词：“我一直坚持的，是‘减少自恨饮食法’”。
(注：美国姑娘们总是乐此不疲滴尝试层出不穷的流行减肥食谱，比如“低碳减肥餐”，“高蛋白食谱”，或者“只吃葡萄柚减肥法”——每个名字都仿佛可以嗅到”和可恨的身体抗争到底”的劲头。然而在这首歌曲中，Meghan偏偏反其道而行，和大家分享了她一直坚持的独一无二的自创食谱——“减少自恨饮食法”。)

当我第一次听到这句歌词时，我不禁在想，用“恨”这个词来形容女性对于自己身体的感受，会不会有点太过了？而后我意识到，不，可悲的现状是，很多女性对她们的身体的情感正是…恨。

在美国，一项名为“接纳肥胖”或“积极看待身体”的运动正逐渐流行起来，旨在鼓励媒体和社会拓宽当下对“美”的定义。这一运动想要告诉我们的是，“所有的身体都是很棒的！每个人都很美！

这项活动具有非常多积极的意义。我很支持这样的新观念：拓宽“美”的定义，珍视每一位女性的独特魅力。

然而与此同时，我又必须承认，对于把所有注意力都放在“美”这件事上，我不免逐渐心生厌倦。

美丽当然很重要。作为凡夫俗子，我们当然本能地会被外在的美丽所吸引。我平时也会努力使自己看上去更美。但是说真的，美不代表一切！我们不仅仅是自己的这副躯壳；我们所能做到的，可比只是看起来热辣性感要多的多。我们应该逐渐学会不仅从外貌去评判女性的价值，更要考虑其他很多决定一个人是否卓越的关键要素——是的，不是“女人”，而是“人”，在为我们自己加上“女人”的标签并匆匆跳入“无止境地追求外在美”的陷阱之前，我们首先要努力做一个优秀的“人”。

你的身体。你的脸。你。你已经很棒了。

怎样才能让这个世界停止以貌取人，而将关注点放在我们每个人的真实内在上呢？可以从“减少自恨饮食法”做起，坚持健康饮食，向这个世界勇敢地发出我们自己的声音，尽情释放天分，挥洒激情。

一定要去看看Meghan Trainor，听听她的音乐——她的节奏，她的歌词，她的声音，以及她那活泼又昂扬的自信。她的每一点都是那样令人激动，让我恨不得立刻蹦起来跳舞。赶快来一起听下，你就会明白我为什么是她的粉丝了！

她是不是超棒？！好了姐妹们，今天就是这样。不要忘记 SMILE BIG & ENJOY YOURSELF!

陈愉的微信ID：ohqueens

微博：@陈愉JoyChen