Body Image And Personality - Spreading Positivity For The African Youth
Body Image and the outlook from an African viewpoint.
Often times we feel "not enough", let down by our physical appearance and body physiology, citing our less perceived body proportions as flaws and long to have the "societal propaganda body" everyone adores. Come in body image.
What Is Body Image?
Body Image is simply how you feel and see yourself physically. It is normal for you to see yourself in a negetive light, but not to dwell on those thoughts, rather it is ideal and I dare say necessary to turn around those thoughts to more positive ones.
The advent of social media, friends, peers and sometimes relatives has greatly changed the dynamics regarding body image. Often times than not, the average African youth looks down on his or herself body wise, as they feel they don't measure up to the "societal set standards" of how they are supposed to look. Comes in negetive body image.
Negetive Body Image - A way of looking at oneself in an undesirable manner physically.
HOW DOES THE AFRICAN YOUTH VIEW HIS/HER BODY IMAGE?
The African youth at this time and age is greatly influenced by the societal accepted definition of body image, that is, the widely accepted social media, friends and peers view on how you are supposed to look. The way it is portrayed:
For Males - Tall, good looking, chiseled muscles (a broad chest, visible six pack abs or atleast a flat tummy, not protruding)
For Females - Basically beautiful, average height, flat tummy, broad hips and substantial amount of glutes.
Not that these above stated qualities are bad in themselves, but in reality a large percentage of the African population fall short of this expected projection.
These qualities can be achieved though, as we will discuss later on.
HOW SHOULD YOU LOOK AT YOUR BODY?
Understand that you are growing (for teenagers) your body is still developing, and naturally will go through different stages, changes, disorders and a whole lot more. You should understand it is completely normal and will eventually pass. Learn to embrace these changes and make it a learning process in understanding your wellbeing, features, emotions and sexuality.
BODY IMAGE PERCEPTIONS IN TEENAGERS
Pre-teenagers and teenagers body image is greatly influenced by there current environment, cultural background, social media (most especially) peers and views from friends. Also it can and is usually influenced more by Puberty - A stage of transitioning from adolescence to adulthood, where changes in appearance, features, body composition amongst others is the order of the day.
Teenagers should not fret or burden themselves with worry over these changes and wanting to fit in to the societal standards of how they are supposed to look and feel.
HAVING A POSITIVE BODY IMAGE
THE ESSENTIALS
Honestly you don't have to look a certain way, talk a certain way or feel a certain way, what's really important is how you feel about yourself, which should be positive regardless.
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See yourself in a positive light, embrace your flaws, work on them as desired, above all feel good about yourself.
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Accept your body as it is, it does not have to fit into other people's perceived perception of what it should be.
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If you do decide to work on your body physically (working out) you shouldn't feel discouraged when you don't get the desired result, keep at it and celebrate the little wins along the way. Enjoy the journey not just the end result.
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If possible stay away or completely ignore those who body shame you for your physically appearance.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO
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Know you are much more than how you look on the outside.
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Don't obsess over how the top models and influencers look on social media, it is mostly doctored and are not real.
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Have a positive approach that you are much more than how you look physically.
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Accept that your body is unique and have qualities peculiar to you as a person, that should be celebrated.
NOT SATISFIED WITH YOUR BODY?
Many African youths aren't anyways, so what can be done?
EXERCISE
Not only good for the physical body, but also for the mind, as it builds resilience, character, strong will power and a feeling of strength and security.
Exercise can greatly change how you look physically, in terms of body fat composition, muscle building, weight reduction amongst others. It can help boost your self esteem as well. As a point of caution you shouldn't overly get engross in it for the sole purpose of changing your body image (not that it is a bad thing in itself), but overly engrossing might get you doing and taking substances medically not advised in other to get quick results.
LIFESTYLE CHANGES
Simple lifestyle changes, such as your diet, commitment to an exercise programme, alcohol consumption and how you spend your time daily can have a great impact on your body image.
Your body is yours to own and not to be controlled and dictated for by others, if you don't like how you look physically, make changes to your lifestyle, exercise and eat healthy, above all have a positive body image regardless.
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