First impressions are created within the first seven seconds upon meeting someone new, ac¬cording to Forbes. So, it is no won¬der that young women hold their appearance at such a high value. With constant pressure to look ones best at all times, negative body issues are rapidly arising.
College students around the world put a massive amount of pressure on themselves to look and feel their best everyday. For many, getting ready in the morn¬ing becomes an internal struggle as negative thoughts about their bodies consume their thoughts. It’s common for many to voice negative thoughts by asking room¬mates, “Do I look fat in this?” al¬most daily.
In order to combat negative body image and fat talk, Huffing¬ton Post writer Jamie Feldman proposes a simple game:
For every bad, negative or de¬grading comment made about yourself, you must follow up with two uplifting, positive and com¬plimentary things. By doing this, you can counteract bad thoughts with positive ones. This can also create a better mindset about ones body and actively train minds to celebrate positive things, rather than dwell on the negative ones First impressions are created within the first seven seconds upon meeting someone new, ac¬cording to Forbes. So, it is no won¬der that young women hold their appearance at such a high value. With constant pressure to look ones best at all times, negative body issues are rapidly arising.
College students around the world put a massive amount of pressure on themselves to look and feel their best everyday. For many, getting ready in the morn¬ing becomes an internal struggle as negative thoughts about their bodies consume their thoughts. It’s common for many to voice negative thoughts by asking room¬mates, “Do I look fat in this?” al¬most daily.
In order to combat negative body image and fat talk, Huffing¬ton Post writer Jamie Feldman proposes a simple game:
For every bad, negative or de¬grading comment made about yourself, you must follow up with two uplifting, positive and com¬plimentary things. By doing this, you can counteract bad thoughts with positive ones. This can also create a better mindset about ones body and actively train minds to celebrate positive things, rather than dwell on the negative ones supports them.”
Mrazik continued, “I think its important for girls struggling with body issues to realize they’re not alone and they should accept themselves the way they are.”
Negative body image isn’t left at the dorms in full-length mirrors. Many college students’ negative body image follows them around throughout the day as they engage in what researchers call “habitual body monitoring.” This is defined as constantly thinking about how one’s body is appearing to the out-side world at any given moment.
Hope Sonner, a senior math stu¬dent, commented, “I think a lot of girls on campus struggle with body issues because they are con¬stantly pressured to look their best and they fear judgment from oth¬ers.” With college students fearing judgement from others about their appearance, negative body image can start to take a toll on those who struggle with these issues.
It can be helpful to students who struggle with body positivity to take advantage of the resources on campus. Dr. Andrew Lee, Di¬rector of Psychological Services, said, “All of our clinicians can help students deal with negative body image. Obviously it’s some¬thing that students struggle with a lot and not necessarily just fe¬male students but male students as well.”
Lee continued, “I would say that if any students feel like they have these struggles, they can come up to CPS (Counseling and Psycho¬logical Services) and talk with any one of our counselors.”
Beauty is not one size fits all, and we have become are our own worst enemy when trying fit society’s unrealistic standard. Through actively replacing every negative thought with two posi¬tive ones, embracing the bodies we have and rejecting the medias standard of beauty, we can end body negativity.
IMAGE TAKEN from Instagram.
