Our bodies are not a trend
As we saw on the Athlete Degree this week, the media has driven trends throughout history and unfortunately our bodies have fallen into those trends. I believe I was post-college when I made the realization that not only do fashion trends change, but the expectations for our bodies change with them. Although that seems like an obvious notion, being a young woman who just wants to fit in, explore fashion, be a part of the trends and “look like all the other cute girls”, I didn’t realize the impact it was having on my own self-confidence and body image.
Once I put together that the expectations of how we look are directly related to what is “in style” or “on trend” I was able to take a step back and analyze how that may have shaped my self-confidence. Without diving into the specific trends, because I do not want to give more attention to body trends, I want to bring to light how we can avoid these things online.
First would be acknowledging the problem, which is what we are doing by even opening up this topic of conversation. We need to accept that history has shown us the media and anyone with fame or influence have created these body standards that everyone is trying to achieve. As posted on the Athlete Degree, there’s clear differences decade to decade of how body expectations have changed, and that starts with what we see from celebrities and the media. Once the public attempts to achieve these unrealistic standards, the media is able to change them.
For example, filler, lash extensions, lower body (glute) workouts, BBLs and curvy bodies are all some examples of what have been “popular” or “trendy” in the recent years. All of these body expectations started with celebrities, influencers and the media. Once these trends became more accessible for the general public, they changed again. If you haven’t noticed, the trend slowly shifted to a “clean girl aesthetic” which is lighter make-up, low intensity workouts like pilates or jogging/walking, dissolving filler and more. All of those small changes have lead into the trend of a smaller body coming back. This is seen with influencers claiming “high intensity workouts” or “lifting all the time” was bad for their hormones or made them feel “big”. Not so coincidentally, low rise jeans and yoga pants are back in style. The clothes are matching the changes in body expectation and vis versa. Not to say any of these workouts or clothing trends are bad, I think everyone should do what feels best for them, but I do have a problem when it comes to pushing new standards and expectations onto other people.
We are allowing people online to make us constantly question how we feel about our bodies, how they should be ever changing and how what you are doing or looking like may not be “in style”. You are the only one who can determine how you feel about your body. If you feel good with what you are doing or how you are dressing, then that is all that matters. We need to be aware of how the media is affecting the trends and expectations put on our body, so we can decide if it’s worth paying attention to or not. Live your life, feel good doing it, put yourself first and when you feel confident in you, rather than trying to be like someone else, that is when true acceptance shines.
Other than identifying the impact the media has on our changing body expectations, being aware of how you talk about yourself can be the most impactful change you can when it comes to body acceptance.
We’ve all heard it before, your words have weight or when you say something out loud enough, you’ll eventually believe it. Unfortunately, that is true. The Athlete Degree showed some examples on how to change your language from negative to positive and just how easy it is. A lot of the time it may feel cheesy or you may not even believe yourself, but that is a good place to start. When you notice yourself speaking or thinking negatively about yourself, try to take that statement and flip it to something positive, whether you believe it or not. When practiced consistently, you’ll be filling your mind with positive thoughts about yourself and your body and eventually that is all you will know. It may feel silly, but I urge you to try it. You never know, it might have an impactful difference on how you perceive yourself.
Lastly, I’ll leave you with this:
The media cannot control the opinions you have of yourself, only you can.
We are not supposed to look the same and couldn’t if we tried.
Being trendy isn’t always cool, being confident in YOU is the coolest thing you can do.
Unfollowing someone on social media isn’t always negative, but if their content is negative for you then you can walk away from it.
Practice positive self-talk and daily affirmations often, one day you’ll believe them.
Monitor how content is affecting you and be confident enough in yourself to avoid what is causing you harm.
Just because it doesn’t bother someone else, doesn't mean it can’t bother you.
Your body is the least interesting thing about you, but take care of it because it does so much more for you than you give it credit for.
Simply existing is hard enough, try not to make it even harder on yourself.
