Our body and the image of its reflection.
29 June 2011
As a teenager you gradually realize many and significant changes in your life. This happens because adolescence is a period of intense changes. Among the most significant changes of your adolescence period are physical changes.
You start observing your body slowly changing, becoming that of an adult instead of the child’s body you knew until now. There are teenagers that are simply not prepared for this "transformation". Something useful that might help you accept the changes you observe is to know that these changes are because of hormones produced by your body, namely androgen for males or estrogen for female teens.
A first and necessary step to take is to realize these changes on your body and come to terms with them. As a result you may be spending a lot of time in front of a mirror observing your body, overseeing the changes, examining your new look. Accepting the various changes and observing your new image, is the next step that should be taken. The sooner you accept your physical changes the sooner you will help yourself to positively deal with the different image of your body now.
Think of how you would respond to the following questions:
How do I feel about my body? What’s the view I have for my body? What’s the image I see when I look at my body in the mirror? How is it (as realistically as possible)? How would I want my body to be? What do I considered as ideal body proportions? How do others see my body and what do they think of it?
The opinion you have formed about your image is based on what answers you would give to such questions.
The opinion you have about you is directly related to the bigger picture you have about yourself and affects your behavior in various aspects of your life such as how you relate to your parents, the opposite sex, your peers or the people you consider important in your life. This opinion you have of you even affects how you respond to food, interests, your feelings and your self-confidence and self-esteem.
Perhaps you’re realizing that your body helps you gradually leave behind the stage of childhood and enter a new phase in you life. It is, however, important to accept your body and develop a realistic image of yourself. This will help you accept and love your body and will eventually build up your self confidence. It’s easy to understand how a negative opinion about your body - especially if this is not true - does not help but on the contrary diminishes your self esteem.
Keep in mind that when you see your image in the mirror you might not see a "perfect body", but this does not mean you have to denigrate it further by negative emotions. Eventually you’ll come to realize that what is most important are your personality features, your skills, your potential and your talents. The ability to express your emotions, form your own opinion and expressing it, the ability to solve problems and develop interpersonal relationships are some of the personality features that you should focus.
If despite all that you still feel disturbed by flaws on your body, you should thing that there are far more important issues of the shape and weight of your body.
Finally, think that our being different than others should be respected by all. It is our right to be different and this right adds value to our life.
