Body image is a term that is thrown around a lot in today’s society, but what does it really mean? Body image describes our perceptions and attitudes towards our own physical appearance. It’s how you perceive yourself and how you feel about your body, whether it’s in a negative or positive light.  

Those times you have looked at yourself in the mirror and don’t necessarily like what you see is all part of your body image. In today’s world the word ‘body image’ can come with a lot of negative connotations. People are constantly comparing themselves to others and this can have a damaging effect on how you view your own body.

Negative body image is having a distorted perception of your shape and size. This is when you perceive parts of your body differently from what they really are. People of all ages struggle to feel secure in their own skin every day. 

Having these thoughts can completely turn someone into something they are not. Always being worried about how many calories you are eating, how many miles you’re running and how many pounds you’re losing every day. It consumes your life and can have serious effects on your mental health. 

Something everyone strives for is to feel comfortable with how they look, but this can be hard to accomplish when beauty standards have become so distorted by society. For years, society has told the world how girls and guys should look and act, and the biggest culprit of this is social media.

Social media has opened the floodgates for people to constantly compare themselves to others. Comparison culture is becoming more and more competitive every day. This toxic phenomenon has caused people all over to compare themselves to models, influencers and celebrities without realizing the damaging effects it has on the brain. For some, it can be hard to separate the photo from what’s really behind the lens.   

Social media and beauty industries have set unrealistic standards for how someone should look to feel beautiful. The truth is everybody is beautiful but social media has made it more and more difficult to feel happy in your own skin. Not being a size zero is okay. Feeling beautiful just as you are is okay.

As someone who has fallen victim to this, I know how hard it can be to love yourself when you’re constantly being reminded that you don’t look like the models we all see on Instagram. Learning to love myself completely has been one of the hardest journeys I have endured. Sometimes I still fail to realize that what I see on social media versus what is really going on behind the screen isn’t usually the same thing. 

Girls and boys all over the world are struggling with their body image. Learning to love yourself completely can be hard but it’s not impossible.