Diet culture, let’s talk about it. One of the biggest things that our society and money-hungry companies thrive on is diet culture. Apparently, it is more important to lower someone’s self-confidence in order to make a quick buck rather than working towards making this world a more positive, self-love promoting place. You go on any social media app and your page is flooded with, “take this pill and it makes you less hungry,” “lose twenty pounds in two weeks with our new program,” or even, “eat our meals that guarantees weight loss” even though it isn’t enough food to satisfy a young child.
Our world is profiting off of self-hatred and feeding off of girls hating what they see in the mirror. This forces them into developing eating disorders, depression, body dysmorphia, etc. which in some cases can become fatal. This is why it is so important to focus on body positivity and self-love at a young age because many lives that were taken from young girls due to suicide or malnutrition could have been saved.
When struggling with low self-esteem, it is important to admit to yourself that you are struggling. Trying to push it down and trick yourself into believing that everything is ok can lead to negative results. Once you come to that realization, that’s when the work begins. You need to separate yourself from anything that is going to feed into the negative mindset, whether it is social media, toxic friendships, relationships, etc. Then, replace them with positive attributes and people who are going to push you towards self-love. Unfollow all those accounts of models and celebrities that you constantly compare yourself to, and follow accounts that are full of body positivity and learning about how to accept yourself. Wake up and repeat aspirations in the mirror, write down one thing that you like about yourself each day, and read back on it. Most importantly, constantly remind yourself that no one is perfect, so it is completely ok to love all of your imperfections. These methods might sound weird and you may even feel dumb while you are in the middle of doing them, but every step no matter how small is still significant. When you finally obtain the self-confidence you have always wanted and you begin to spread that positivity to everyone around you, you will look back at all those steps you took, and you will be thankful for each and every one of them.