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These pressures make it so that people aren't comfortable to be who they are.
By Unwritten — Written on Mar 26, 2022
By Tylia Flores
In today’s society, we hold ourselves to certain body image standards so that we can seem “healthy.” Everything that we see on the Internet, read in magazines, and watch on TV influences how we see our bodies.
Sometimes we categorize other people because of how they look instead of who they truly are — and it hurts all of us.
This is why we should stop telling people that they look “healthy” based on their outer appearance.
For starters, you never know what a person is going through.
They could have body image issues that make them believe that “healthy” means “fat,” or they could have severe health conditions that affect the way that their body feels on the inside.
Just because a person looks “normal” or “healthy” doesn’t mean that their physical or mental health is good.
Telling someone that they look “healthy” just because you think that they do can also put standards on how you think others should look.
They may work so hard to achieve a certain body type that may not be healthy for them just because of the stress and pressure they face to look a certain way.
This especially becomes a problem if they are just starting to feel comfortable in their own skin.
We also need to stop telling people that they look “healthy,” because if we continue to say this, then society will keep stigmatizing certain bodies and pressuring people to fit just one definition of what “healthy” is “supposed to” look like.
This mindset takes away from our ability to to embrace people no matter what they look like and accept body diversity.
Every person comes from a different background, and we as a society need to embrace their diverse bodies no matter what.
When we tell people that they look “healthy,” they may feel a lot of pressure to live up to today’s beauty standards or change themselves to look a way that isn’t realistic for them.
These pressures make it so that people aren’t comfortable to be who they are.
If we stop telling people that they look “healthy,” they will feel safer to be themselves and more confident in their skin.
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Tylia Flores is an author, and a writer for Unwritten and Digital Fox. She writes primarily on topics of relationships, mental health, and lifestyle. Visit her author profile on Unwritten for more of her work.
This article was originally published at Unwritten. Reprinted with permission from the author.