Reader Sophia has something pretty amazing to say about self esteem... and why it seems to be falling through our fingers.
Sophia says:
I've been thinking of saying something for a little while now. I've been wondering how to say it. It worries me when you post a selfie on Instagram and then comment underneath, 'Sorry, will delete this later.' In real life, would you move your hair out of your face when talking to a friend and then say, 'Sorry, I will put this away later.' I hope your answer is no. The need for us to let other users of social media know that we are not cocky but instead shy is just knocking down our own self esteem. We built up the foundations of this self esteem as children... we said we were the best at everything, we sang even if our voices were bad. We didn't doubt ourselves. And then we grew out of this natural self esteem, felt naive to ever have believed it. We felt bad, but it's not cocky, selfish or egoistic to believe in ourselves, it just shows that we love our mind, body, soul, and that's OK.
I thought I was pretty grounded in myself. I don't purposely wear make up because I think I am ugly but because it lightens my eyes. I don't run round the house looking for the bets lighting to take a picture. However, I was scrolling through my Instagram feed and I saw forms for selections. And if you don't know what that is, it's an online version of the Selection series by author Kiera Cass. Basically, it's like The Bachelor but with a prince. You send in your form, including a picture and information about the character you are going to role play. What I saw was that all of the images were of celebrities and models. I did it too. I subconsciously thought that I just wasn't pretty enough to use a picture of myself. we are all doing it - using people that we think define 'beauty' for these things. We don't realise that we are also beautiful and worthy of that spot we've set aside for celebrities. Why is it so easy to tell someone else they are beautiful, yet so hard to tell the person you see in the mirror every day? Why deny yourself a little love?
You are enough, you are beautiful and you need to believe it. When your friend changes her profile picture you don't hesitate to say she looks beautiful. So when you look in the mirror, try imagining you are looking at your identical twin. What would you say? A teacher once told me I was 'God's treasure'. No matter what your religion may be, or even if you don't believe in a god at all, you ARE God's treasure. That for me is enough to love myself, and that is enough for me to show you who I am. Who I really am. All you have to do is unlock the chest and you will realise how much treasure is inside of you! Once you do, I hope that I will get to see who YOU are! I hope that we all do, then we can all stand together, beautifully and wonderfully made.
Cathy says:
Wow... awesome words and loads to think about here... because we all do this, don't we? Worry about how others may see and judge us? If YOU are brave enough to share a picture or collage of the 'real you', post it onto your Facebook page, onto Instagram, Twitter or any social media with the tag #ThisIsMe. Do you dare? COMMENT BELOW and tell us if you will!
I've been thinking of saying something for a little while now. I've been wondering how to say it. It worries me when you post a selfie on Instagram and then comment underneath, 'Sorry, will delete this later.' In real life, would you move your hair out of your face when talking to a friend and then say, 'Sorry, I will put this away later.' I hope your answer is no. The need for us to let other users of social media know that we are not cocky but instead shy is just knocking down our own self esteem. We built up the foundations of this self esteem as children... we said we were the best at everything, we sang even if our voices were bad. We didn't doubt ourselves. And then we grew out of this natural self esteem, felt naive to ever have believed it. We felt bad, but it's not cocky, selfish or egoistic to believe in ourselves, it just shows that we love our mind, body, soul, and that's OK.
I thought I was pretty grounded in myself. I don't purposely wear make up because I think I am ugly but because it lightens my eyes. I don't run round the house looking for the bets lighting to take a picture. However, I was scrolling through my Instagram feed and I saw forms for selections. And if you don't know what that is, it's an online version of the Selection series by author Kiera Cass. Basically, it's like The Bachelor but with a prince. You send in your form, including a picture and information about the character you are going to role play. What I saw was that all of the images were of celebrities and models. I did it too. I subconsciously thought that I just wasn't pretty enough to use a picture of myself. we are all doing it - using people that we think define 'beauty' for these things. We don't realise that we are also beautiful and worthy of that spot we've set aside for celebrities. Why is it so easy to tell someone else they are beautiful, yet so hard to tell the person you see in the mirror every day? Why deny yourself a little love?
Cathy says:
Wow... awesome words and loads to think about here... because we all do this, don't we? Worry about how others may see and judge us? If YOU are brave enough to share a picture or collage of the 'real you', post it onto your Facebook page, onto Instagram, Twitter or any social media with the tag #ThisIsMe. Do you dare? COMMENT BELOW and tell us if you will!
I think it also ties in with the #tumblrgirl that's very popular right now.. (You can google it if you aren't sure) which involves teenage girls taking selfies they shouldn't be taking, highly editing them, then adding song lyrics & quotes. Then it's expected for other girls and guys to comment how pretty and sexy they are (bare in mind a lot of these girls are underage) ... It's a very dark side to the Internet at the moment, the main goal seems to be to gain thousands of followers telling girls how pretty they are, if there's a photo that doesn't get the reaction they want it's edited and deleted. My teenage sister and all her friends seem to all be doing it. <3 xxx
ReplyDeleteI'm only 11 and not on facebook or tumblr but on twitter, and pinterest. On twitter I never use my real name or post pictures of me. One of my friends big sisters got into trouble over this on istagram and now she's deleted her account, and set one up not using her real name. She also only posts pictures which aren't of herself. Also on moviestarplanet they've enabled photos to be shared and I've seen the comments on some of them. I've never really liked how some people on the internet give loads of personal info and expect lots back as well. xxx
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