I want to make a
difference…
I am just one
person, but I don’t think people understand that all it takes
is one person to make a change, to improve. All it takes is one
moment of pure bravery to be that change. I think most people wish
for change to come, yet they sit back and wait for someone else to
make that change for them; I would know, that was me about five
minutes before writing this. But something came upon me and I
realized that no change will come if I do that. I have to be my
own hero. After coming to this realization, a billion
different words, and phrases raced through my mind all stringed
together by the topic of body image.
What exactly is body image? By definition, body image is “a
subjective picture of one's own physical appearance established
both by self-observation and by noting the reactions of
others.” To break that down, body image is how you see
yourself physically, based off of comparisons and the
opinions of others. Our entire lives are impacted by this tiny
thing, but it’s up to you how much it affects you. We are
surrounded by media. We have television, magazines, and the
internet as ways to access it. Everywhere we look we see images of
girls who are skinny and tall. These pictures are plastered
everywhere we look. For some, this is no big deal, it means
nothing, but for others their mind has been set to believe that
this is how they are supposed to look.
Throughout the years we’ve been in school we have
constantly been told not to bully. Although bullying is a huge and
important topic, sometimes it seems as if people think that is the
only struggle we face. The purpose of this is not to denounce
bullying, and to make it seem as if the struggle with body image is
more important than bullying. Bullying can be the root to
struggling with body image. I think that this topic needs to be
touched upon; it is affecting and has affected more people than
we’ll ever know.
Everyone cares what people think of them. There are different
degrees, but everyone cares to a certain extent. You have no
control over it. There are times when we get caught up in this.
There are times when we do things to please others, but no matter
what we do, no matter who you are, not everyone is going to
understand you and like you. It’s up to you how much you let
this control you and I think way too many people have let this
control who they are. We’ve all heard things such as
“it’s about what’s on the inside that
counts,” and this is one hundred percent true. If you go
around looking for beauty in the world with your only judgment
being the appearance, you’re going to miss out on some
wonderful things. The same thing applies to people. How someone
looks, does not define who they are.
This is coming from a fourteen year-old girl. Many people will
think “why should I listen to her? She hasn’t
experienced the real world yet, she’s younger than me.”
Also, some of you might know that I have a knack for filming myself
doing my makeup and posting it on YouTube. I do this, which makes
me a beauty vlogger. This kind of contradicts all that I have
stated so far because makeup is something that changes the way you
look. But to me, the purpose of makeup is not to change for others,
but to give you self-confidence. To me my makeup is for me. I wear
makeup because it makes me happy. It makes me feel
beautiful.