baby photo on the mirror
“You are more than a body, and you knew that once. It takes some serious work to remember, understand, and experience this truth that you are more — more than beautiful, more than parts in need of fixing, more than an object to be looked at and evaluated” - Lindsay and Lexie Kite
At the end of May I was given the wonderful opportunity to present to the year eight girls at Camberwell High School. The theme of the day was ‘the joy of being me.’
We covered a lot in the time we got to share together, but the key topic of the day was body image. Here are a few facts for you:
50% of adolescent girls engage in intentional weight loss behaviours
75% of high school girls have a desire to lose weight
40% of young people aged 11-17 engaging in disordered eating behaviours are male
30% of young people are extremely or very concerned about their body image
When I shared these statistics with the group you could hear a pin drop in the room. Many of them didn’t realise just how many people struggle day to day with their body image. The activity that really highlighted this was one we did at the beginning. I got all the girls to stand in a large circle. I read out a series of phrases about body image and if what I said resonated, I invited them to step into the circle. No one was ever alone in the circle.
It is one thing to identify an issue with body image, it is another to navigate it. While I have a number of strategies in my own body image toolkit, I didn’t want to give them my strategies and send them on their way. Just because something works for me, it didn’t mean that it was going to work for them.
I put them into groups of three or four and asked each group to come up with three strategies they could use on a day that they are struggling with their body image. Seeing them work together to come up with strategies really warmed my heart.
I asked each group to pick someone to be their spokesperson and share one strategy with the rest of the class. Their strategies were so good that I just had to share them with YOU!
Go for a walk
Speak to a friend about it
Do something kind for myself
Eating what I love and enjoy it
Stick my baby photo on the bathroom mirror
The thing I love most about inviting the students to come up with the strategies themselves is that so much of the time they come up with things I have never heard of!! For me the one that resonated the most was, ‘stick my baby photo on the bathroom mirror.’ This one made me curious. I asked, ‘can you tell me more about that?’
The student told me about a TikTok trend that was going around where young people stick a baby photo on their mirror to remind them that when they are saying unkind things to themselves their inner child is listening.
When I think of some of the cruel things I have said about myself and my body it makes me sad. In the past I would nit-pick every feature. I would chastise myself for my food choices. I would punish myself if I didn’t move my body. Younger Gel didn’t deserve any of that. In the same way that I would never say hurtful things to my younger self, I need to hold my present self to that same standard.
Putting a photo of your younger self on the mirror is a beautiful reminder to be kind to yourself. We are worth so much more than the way that we physically present in the world. Our friends and family love and value us for far more than our physical appearance. We need to love and value ourselves beyond our physical appearance too.
Here is your activity of the day, write a list of five things you love about yourself. It might not be easy to get started. It might feel uncomfortable but sit with it. If you can’t think of five, send a message to a friend or family member and ask them to share one with you.
I hope this post was helpful. If you have your own strategy that you use and love, send it through to angelica@thisisyourbody.com.au. I would love to share it with our community.
With joy and gratitude,
