It’s that time of year where it seems like everyone is concerned about their bodies. Spring Break sparks motivation to eat healthy and work out, so that bodies look just right on the beach and, arguably more importantly, our Instagram accounts. We look at models and abs and willpower and set them as our background, a reminder to stay focused and have self-control. We skip lunch and birthday cake and commit to working out daily. But even when we feel like we worked hard, we get to the beach and our pride dies when we see other gorgeous girls with way cuter swimsuits, much bigger thigh gaps, and way more boys surrounding her. We get trapped in this evil cycle of feeling like we aren’t enough.

I’m not saying this is the case for everyone, but I am speaking from experience. Although this exact scenario may not have happened to me, it’s pretty much sums up the feelings I would’ve had just a few years ago. And call me crazy, but I don’t think I was alone.

Most of the time, when I start to write about body image, I quit halfway through because I have too many thoughts and opinions and examples and experience. I always feel like my words never adequately encapsulate the feelings that I want to portray. Because of this, I’m only going to attempt to capture one, tiny, piece of the widespread body image issue problems in our world. I will not touch on the “control” aspect, eating disorders, or “health” culture in this article. But I will focus on arguably one of the largest ones: our idolization of people in the media. Our society idolizes unachievable bodies and builds a definition of “normal” on people who spend their entire life to look that way. It’s no wonder body insecurity affects almost every single person in the US.

Being constantly surrounded by media, our brains subconsciously soak up ideas about what the most socially acceptable, or rather socially praised, bodies look like. Whether we realize it or not, our social media feeds, Netflix habits and the advertisements always surrounding us are some of the biggest influences on our body image.

All the time people approach me for advice about body issues, eating disorders, insecurity. I do my best to help, but it never fails that I'm left wishing I could do more. I wish the fact that I went through similar issues enabled me to fix others' problems. I wish I was a professional and knew the exact steps necessary to help people with body/food problems. I know I'm far from those things, but as I scrolled through my Instagram, I realized I DO have a tool right at my fingertips.

Pretty girls and awesome lives on Instagram were the EXACT things that led me to feel like my life and body were inadequate. They were the exact things that conditioned my brain to think that I could find happiness if I changed the way I looked. They were the exact things that made me feel like my normal, healthy body was not enough.

It kills me to think that someone else could be looking at my social media and feel like their life doesn't compare. It kills me to think that my posts have sparked insecurity in someone else.

So, no matter how beaten down the subject may get, I want to fill my media with posts like this. I will not give up attempting to counter the false advertisements of the mass media because I know, first hand, how detrimental these things can be.

In one of the books I read for a class, Gender by Lisa Wade, I came across this quote and thought it exemplified my point.

Wade stated, “Supermodel Adriana Lima, for example, once revealed the incredible routine she uses to prepare her body for the Victoria's Secret catwalk. For a month before the show, she explained, she works out everyday with a personal trainer. For the three weeks before, she works out twice a day. A nutritionist gives her protein shakes, vitamins, and supplements to help her body cope with the workout schedule. She drinks a gallon of water a day. For the final nine days before the show, she consumes only protein shakes. Two days before the show, she begins drinking water at abnormal rate; for the final twelve hours, she drinks no water at all."

I think we all need to read that. Then read it again. And really think if this sounds like a life that is realistic or fulfilling. This woman, presumably with most other woman whose body we praise, doesn’t live a normal life. Her everyday life is working to look the way she does, yet so many people will look at her and become insecure because they don’t look like her. They will wonder what they are doing wrong and what she is doing right.

Another video I found profound was this Ted Talk by Model Cameron Russell.

In this, Cameron recognizes all the privileges that she has gotten in her life solely because of her image. Her, image, she explains was the result of “a legacy and winning the genetic lottery.” She talks about how convicting it is when she realizes that other people are all the same receiving the opposite effects in life because of how they look. Her story is a testimony to the truth that looking a certain way doesn’t grant you happiness and even more importantly, the looks we see as ideal are not even real.

This information may seem redundant or basic, but I think it still serves importance. To anyone struggling with body image, eating disorders, identity; anyone struggling with anxiety, depression, or any other mental illness: You are not alone. Remember that the things we see on social media are only the best, edited versions of who people really are.

And to anyone, like me, wanting to help people with these struggles: Don’t forget, you can help. If the media can affect us so negatively, if we shift the things we put out there, it can have the same affects positively. We all have the power to be honest - to create connection and empathy. You have the power to make posts that are controversial and vulnerable. You have the power to be authentically yourself instead of just posting what you think you’re suppose to or what will get you the most likes. The media is deceitful, influential, and powerful - let’s use it to build each other up instead of making our own lives seem better.