“How you love yourself is how you teach others to love you,” Rupi Kaur, famous illustrator, poet, author and photographer, said. Loving yourself presents a challenge in today’s society. There are many expectations. This can create feeling of pressure. Many question how are we supposed to look? Or act? “I believe that social media is the main reason for negative body images. Think about it? We have apps to completely change ourselves. All into something we are not, using Photoshop. If that is done all the time, then it makes people think they need to Photoshop. All to look perfect. People only post what they want others to see. If they feel bad about themselves, they don’t show it. This makes people (young men and women) feel awful about themselves,” 18-year-old spiritual activist and local native, Jasmine Nerderman, said. These feelings of negativity are hard to deal with and many feel pressured to look a certain way.
The way we treat ourselves matters. Many of us have experienced body shaming at some point in our lives. “I’m the worst about body shaming myself. I do feel people should not be body shaming other people. I am an advocate for body positivity. I know the feelings of pressure being placed on me to be perfect,” 19-year-old mom, body positive activist and proud supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community, Allie Campbell, said. Many feel the stress of trying to be perfect. It makes it hard to be yourself when everyone wants you to be someone else. “I grew up heavily body shamed. It took a huge mental toll on me. From hating myself, to having full blown eating disorders…some I’m still fighting. I’ve been through hard times. I would hate to be the one to put someone else through that,” Nerderman said.
Mental Health Matters.
These negativities can lead to eating disorders, self-harm and lack of self-confidence. “Everyone is different and everyone has different ways of dealing with body images. I believe we need to find the things that make us love ourselves. Make time for them. This is a massive societal change that needs to happen. I change my appearance using hair dye, haircuts or makeup. I have struggled with suicidal thoughts because of body image issues and eating disorders. Not because I don’t get loved, but because I feel I’m not worthy of love,” Campbell said.
