Falcon Voices: BPM long responses

“I think people should try to have a positive outlook on their bodies because it’s such an important part of our well being. By seeing yourself in a more positive light, your overall quality of life will increase. You’ll start to wear whatever you want without other’s opinions affecting you. Throughout my life, I have really struggled with my body. When I looked in the mirror, my mind was fixated on how weird and skinny I looked. People always view being skinny as the goal, but I really wish I had more muscle and fat on my body. I used to also struggle with eating. I don’t have an eating disorder, but when I was younger I would notice that I was gaining weight and instantly stop eating. I continued to do this for some time, but recently I have gotten much better and learned to stop caring because I know that I am perfect just the way I am.”

“I truly believe beauty comes from within. You shouldn’t worry about how your hair looks but you do need to worry about your health, which does not necessarily mean your weight. Weighing yourself on a scale to tell you if you’re healthy or not is very typical, but you need to take into account whether you are shorter or taller and other things that may affect your weight. You should always strive to be your healthiest self, which is when you feel best about yourself. It is understandable when people have a lower metabolism that it is harder to monitor this, but it is necessary to do for your health.”

“I don’t really have any stories on this topic, but I think this is an issue that a lot of young girls struggle with. Girls think they have to look a certain way to be able to “fit in” and that should not be the case. It is not about what you look like on the outside, but it is what’s on the inside that matters most, and this is something that I feel like a lot of girls and guys forget. You see all of these girls and celebrities posting on Instagram looking a certain way, but at the same time it could just be from an angle where you can’t see any flaws. If everyone ate the exact same thing every single day, everyone would still have different bodies. I think that is something that you have to remember, that God made everyone unique and different and that is the beauty of it. Everyone shouldn’t look the same way, otherwise everyone would be boring. You just have to tell yourself that God made you for you and no one else, and everyone is beautiful in their own way, no matter what their body looks like.”

“Body positivity and confidence have always been something I’ve deeply struggled with. I remember being a little girl, always thinking about why there were no models who looked like me or had the same body as me. Growing up in an environment where only one body was ‘truly beautiful’ greatly harmed me. I remember crying at what I saw in the mirror because my body wasn’t curvaceous enough and I was not toned at thirteen. When you’re thirteen, of course your body is going to look like this because it’s barely begun to develop. In 8th grade, I remember I gained a lot of weight due to depression which made it hard for me to have motivation to exercise, and all I could really do was sleep and eat. The weight I gained made it even harder for me to love myself, because I’d never see proper representation of my own body type on social media. I began to unhealthily exercise and diet and didn’t realize that it was dangerous for me. When I began losing weight, I could not stop myself and became obsessed with what I saw in the mirror. I never was satisfied with what I saw, and I became discouraged when I continued to do what was supposed to get me to that unrealistic goal but still saw no changes. That’s when I began to distance myself from the toxic portrayal of what was considered beautiful, and began surrounding myself with more positivity. The friends I had were also like me, with bodies that weren’t like what we saw on Instagram, TikTok, and on social media in general. Whether it was being heavier on the scale or being considered ‘too skinny’, we all struggled together with this, and I began to notice how harmful it was on both them, their happiness, and their self worth. I began to repost body positivity images on my social media to influence others, to not care about what their body is like. I told my friends how beautiful they were daily and encouraged them to love themselves. I especially went into depth about how to not believe the societal norms that skinny equals perfect because quite frankly, it doesn’t. Perfect is being healthy and happy and loving yourself. Weight does not equal perfect and I hate how the media portrays it as such. While there is nothing wrong with wanting to achieve a body that you want, being distraught with your body because it does not look like Instagram models is not okay and I hope that one day this isn’t the reality. Your body is built to protect you. Your chin and neck might need more fat to protect your bones because they’re delicate. If you’re a female, the fat on your gut is used to protect your reproductive organs. If your thighs have fat on them, it might be to protect the muscle. If you’re like me, and have lost a lot of weight, you also could have excess skin from the weight loss.”

“For me, it’s less about body positivity and more about how you feel about it. Personally I think I could lose some fat on my stomach, but I don’t really mind. I could achieve my perfect body, but I do not really focus on that. I don’t have to be happy with my body to be happy because I honestly couldn’t care less if I have fat on my stomach and if other people do, that’s their problem. I would never let myself become unhealthy, and if I did, I would make it a priority to regain my health. Some people can be very sensitive about it, though, and I understand that completely. I think very bluntly, and my thoughts are as follows: if you’re unhappy with your body, change it. You can’t be sad because if something’s your fault, just work to make yourself happy. And if you chose to not work, you’re really not allowed to be unhappy, considering you could do something.”