" When you look at both a sunset and a flower they're both unexplainably beautiful, but you can't compare their beauty"
While there is no main cause for eating disorders or the development of insecurities, body dissatifcation it has been shown that the main source would be the media or societal standards. This push for body standards cause
- Body Objectification: In everyday life you can see any form or weight loss promotion on any type of appliance. You constantly see ads on your television for a new weightloss machine or diet, an ad on instagram by a famous model for a new protein shake, and no matter what platform you go on there will always be advertisements like that.In today's age people base their value on how many likes their photo gets, how many followers they have, or what people say about them. 43% of teenagers feel bad about themselves if a social media post doesn’t get enough likes or comments, and the same percentage has deleted a post because of it.
- Comparison: Mass media and modeling companies constantly push the ideal body to be thin, tall, small waist, etc and this is very harmful to not only already overweight people but thin people as well. This body standard incites bullying, insecurities and causes people to feel like they're not enough especially when the only people pushed to the light of the media are models, people with plastic surgery or thin people. We also compare the lows of our life to the highs of theirs that we see on social media.
- Triggers: Many people who have found treatment for their eating disorder and are in recovery social media platforms can be very triggering. Seeing weight-loss photos, diet videos, or edited photos can cause triggering thoughts and actions. This can be an endless cycle everytime someone goes on social media. There are also various videos of body-checking ( which someone shows how skinny they are from the side) or many people with eating disorders compare themselves to other people with an eating disorder. This happens because eating disorders are very competitive and a person's main goal is to be the skinniest they can be compared to everyone else.
Many people have trouble realizing their own self worth especially with commentary from people their age. Loving yourself is one of the hardest journey anyone can go on especially when you're at a young impressionable age, but here are some things that helped me...
- Remembering what you see on social media is not really the truth. Many photos posted on social media are edited a little or even heavily edited and many models have gotten plastic surgery ( which there is nothing wrong with at al). Also the happy life celebrities, models, or influencers post on social media is really not the truth and like us they are also human and struggle with their daily life and themselves. One big point is that models like Kylie Jenner, Gigi Hadid and others also struggle with insecurities and compare themselves with other people but others see them as beautiful goddesses. There is also someone thinks about you like that, a stranger passing by or a friend even if they don't voice their thoughts.
- My sister always tells me the presence of someone else's beauty doesn't take away from your own. This is why I put the quote at the top, because both a sunset and your favorite flower are beautiful to you but in their own way and you can't compare the two.
- Following positive body influencers that help you feel better about yourself. I follow tiktok "brittanilancaster" who promotes recovery from two eating disorders, positive body image and shows you how to start your journey on loving yourself. Surrounding yourself with positivity in real life and social media can show a big difference on your mindset and actions as well
- Change your mindset. I can not stress how important it is to begin to change your way of thinking. Of course this isn't easy, but I always tell myself it is always better to put yourself through your hard work and be proud of how far you've come then wondering what could have been. Even one positive comment towards yourself everyday can make the whole difference.One big thing I did was to begin doing things for myself. I lost weight (in a healthy way) because I wanted to be able to love myself not for anyone else, I put myself through hardships because I knew in the end it would be worth it, I took mental health days and time for myself away from everyone, I cut off toxic people and kept my good friends close. You need to start doing things for yourself because you deserve to be happy and healthy, and you are worth it.
