I believe that in our society, it is becoming more and more challenging to appreciate and love your body. We see these unrealistic advertisements and magazine covers of these often photoshopped men and women and expect our own bodies to be able to look this way. By setting these impossible standards, our media is constantly discouraging us from loving our bodies. In order to surpass this obstacle society has given us, we must accept that we may not look like these images we see on magazines and our TV’s.
Moving past this stage of acceptance, we must embrace who we are. Our bodies do not define our value or our beauty, as beauty is a state of mind. We must appreciate the amazing things that our bodies do and stop focusing on our physical flaws. This begins with overpowering our negative thoughts with positive ones. This includes the way we talk about others, by avoiding comments about weight and size, and talking about what we value in others and ourselves, like sense of humor or artistic abilities. Other ideas to make this a reality could be by surrounding ourselves with people who love us and make us feel good about ourselves and finding the internal things about ourselves that we love. Taking time for yourself to relax, take a nap, or maybe have a bubble bath are examples of things we can do to reward and appreciate our bodies just as they are. In general, we must start doing things for ourselves that make us happy, rather than shooting ourselves down with negative thoughts. All of these things combined can create self-love and can help us maintain a positive body image.
by Caitlyn, 16 years old