Body Image
How My Personal Values and Beliefs Helped Me Overcome My Body Issues
Last Updated on June 7, 2020 by blendtw
When I was younger, in middle school, I was a little bit overweight, which was hard for me. I remember wondering if I should go on a diet and feeling like I should fit into a certain size and be smaller.
Even sometimes now if I go to a store and I’m not the XXS, I wonder whether I should be exercising more because I’m very petite and that’s what I’ve always been. So, body image has affected my confidence negatively if I don’t fit within that set size.
And it’s not something I’ve thought about constantly but it’s something that I definitely notice because I think we are brainwashed at a young age to look and act a certain way. My body image is very much associated with that.
I also think the media plays a big role in promoting a body image stereotype. I remember learning about the Dove campaign in middle school; they showed all these different images of how people looked when they were retouched using photoshop.
When you’re younger, you’re inundated with photoshopped images. You don’t really understand the technology that’s behind creating that perfect image that isn’t realistic. I think people strive to be that. It is really easy to get caught up on that.
Trying to reflect on what my values and beliefs are is a way of focusing less on what other people think because that’s very much why we are so fixated with body image.
We are trying to control our image to look a way that’s favorable to others. But when I focus on my own values and beliefs, looks aren’t really that important to me.
It’s about being healthy and living in a healthy manner. So, if I exercise, it’s for that purpose, and I look away from what other people are thinking.
Being mindful of that is very important. Mindfulness through meditation as well as through just saying how I feel and sharing it with people.
I think that one of the issues with body image is that you keep a lot to yourself if you feel ashamed. But if you speak out and share, that’s a way of dispelling the shame.