Improving Body Image: Part 5
Body image tips for young people by young people
Body image advice for young people
What is body Image?
Body image describes how a person feels about their own body and appearance. It includes how you see yourself, how you think and feel about how you look and how you think others see you. Our body image often affects the way we treat our body.
Research tells us that most young people in Ireland are not happy with how they look and that this is causing them difficulty in their lives. The advice on this page has been designed in collaboration with the Bodywhys Youth Panel and focus groups with young people aged 16-22 nationwide.
“Your insecurities are what make you different and make you who you are. If everyone looked the same it would be boring. If you want to wear something, all that matters is that you love it, not what other people think. Learn to love yourself.”
- Jesy Nelson, Little Mix
“People forget how important it is to talk to family and friends about what’s going on in your life. The more you tell people how you feel, the more you understand it and have more control of your emotions.”
- Shawn Mendes
Self-compassion
Sometimes we are much harder on ourselves than we are on other people. Thinking about ourselves harshly can really get us down. We all have negative thoughts but noticing these and being kinder to ourselves can often improve how we feel.
Imagine you are running out the door to meet friends and you see yourself in the mirror on your way out and think “I look awful”. Consider how that one thought might affect how you feel leaving the house, how you feel meeting your friends, how much you enjoy the evening or how you feel the next day?
Try and treat yourself with the same kindness you would treat a friend. Often, we can be very harsh on ourselves and speak quite critically to ourselves. Usually, we speak to ourselves far more harshly than we would to a friend or family member. Try to notice your harsh self-talk and see if there is a different way that you could look at the situation. Ask yourself how you would talk to a friend or family member if they were in your shoes. Be patient with yourself when trying to do this - this is a new skill and learning it can take time and some work.
NEGATIVE THOUGHT: “Hardly anyone liked my social media post – nobody likes me.”
BALANCED THOUGHT: “I don’t need people to like my posts in order for me to feel OK. Real friendship is not about the number of likes online – having a few friends who really care about you is way more important than likes online.”
ADVICE: Try and spend more time doing things you enjoy and being around friends instead of connecting online and see how that makes you feel.
IMPROVING BODY IMAGE: WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY
Think about the conversations you have with your friends. Talking a lot about how people in the media look or dieting or body building can put body image pressure on you and your friends. Support your friends in trying lots of new things and finding stuff they really love doing. Sometimes people say they feel pressure to be online all the time. Talk to your friends about social media pressure – maybe even do an experiment to reduce time online and see how that makes you feel.
“Having two or three good friends, people you can really talk to is worth way more than having 30 acquaintances”
- Josh McClorey, Musician
TURN THE FOCUS AWAY FROM BODY IMAGE
“Remember body image is only one part of who you are. The media makes it seem like body image is the most important thing but if you think of real life and the people you love spending time and why you like spending time with them I bet how they look doesn’t even come into it! We enjoy being around people for who they are – and that’s what they like about us too.”
“If you’re not feeling good about how you look – focusing on that and trying to change myself just makes me feel worse. But thinking of something else and doing what I love doing – playing music really helped. I think instead of going along with what your friends are doing – do what you really want to do – you enjoy it and feel proud of yourself and good about yourself and then feel better about how you look too. Works for me!”
“Don’t judge people by how they look. If we lighten up a little in the way we judge others then maybe we will also lighten up a little bit on ourselves.”
“Chasing the image of perfection is like chasing a rainbow – you can see it but you’re never going to get there.”
“Focus on the positive. We all have things that we don’t like about how we look but focusing on these perceived flaws can really hold us back. Think about what you do like and try and focus on that instead.”
Don’t compare yourself to others and stop trying to fit in
Make a list of positive things about yourself. Think about your achievements, your skills, your positive qualities and then maybe consider positive things about your appearance too. If you are having difficulty you could include things which other people have complimented you on. Focusing on all aspects of you as a person may be helpful in reminding you that body image is only one part of who you are and generally is not what other people appreciate about you.
“Why fit in when you were born to stand out.”
“Be around people who like you for who you are – don’t try to be someone you’re not.”
Social media and body image
✔️Notice how social media makes you feel. If a post makes you feel like changing yourself or less happy with who you are, notice that.
✔️Hide or unfollow pages or people on social media that make you feel bad.
✔️Think about what you like instead of worrying about ‘likes’! Go through all the pages you follow and see if they really interest you or if you’re just following things your friends like. Only follow pages which really interest or inspire you. Do plenty of things you like in real life.
✔️Remember nobody’s life is like social media. People tend to post the ‘good stuff’ and leave out all the everyday, routine tasks so it looks like everyone is having a really fantastic time all the time. Nobody’s life is like that.
✔️Seek out social media accounts and pages which add something to your life, make you feel positive about yourself and which upload inspiring content, e.g. #bopo (body positive).
HOW TO PROMOTE POSITIVE BODY IMAGE IN YOUR SCHOOL
Posters: Create posters of ‘what we do see’ and ‘what we don’t see’ on social media and put these up around your school. This may help to highlight that what we see on social media does not reflect real life.
Media experiments: You could do experiments to see how taking breaks from media and social media makes you feel.
Digital detox day: Get your school to support the idea of a detox day – everyone go without looking at social media or screens for one day or even one week. You could get sponsorship for the digital detox and raise money for charity.
Expose media tricks: Do projects to highlight how what we see in the media is not real. You could search for before and after images which have been airbrushed; you could collect articles from social media influencers describing how their life was not always as it appeared in the photos they were posting. Displaying these projects around your school may encourage other students to consider media editing techniques also and to carry out similar projects.
Be Unique Day: Have a ‘Be Unique Day’ in your school and encourage people to wear colourful clothes or hairstyles that make them feel good. You could use this opportunity to raise money for a mental health charity of your choice.
Body Positive Wall: You could decorate a wall in your school with positive body image quotes and provide post it notes for people to write down things they like about themselves, body positive messages or images to stick on the wall too.
Useful Resources + links:
🎓 Programme: “SeeMySelf” is an online programme designed for young people aged 15-24. This interactive 6 week programme focuses on different issues such as self-esteem, body image, media, and culture.
💻 Website: Bodywhys provide a range of services for people affected by an eating disorder including an online support group for over 18s Bodywhys Connect and for under 18s Bodywhys YouthConnect.
💻 Website: SpunOut.ie is Ireland’s youth information website created by young people, for young people.
💻 Website: A Lust for Life provides content, campaigns and events to facilitate young people to be effective guardians of their own mind.
💻 Website: Jigsaw provide services nationwide to support youth mental health.
💻 Website: See the Useful Links and Resources section of this Bodywhys Body Image website for a more comprehensive list of supports.