The girl sitting next to you in English, you would never know it, but she wakes up every morning, looks in the mirror, and finds once again that she hates what she sees. The popular boy in your next class, his arms and legs ache from working himself to the bone just to have that perfectly chiseled body. They look confident. They never falter or look like they struggle to be who they are perceived to be. The reality, however, is that they struggle every single day.

Each person struggles with something and no one deals with it in the same way. Most struggles stem from the way they look. Whether it’s not liking the way their nose looks or feeling insecure about the acne on their face. Who gets to decide these are bad things though? If you just said the media, you would be agreeing with the majority of people. “Actors and models don’t actually look like they are portrayed in movies and magazines,” said senior Camerin Burtle. Many people don’t take into consideration that Photoshop and other photo editing techniques are used in the media, so they judge themselves and others too harshly.

Girls deal with body discrimination from the media and others telling them how they should or shouldn’t look. What people don’t think about is how boys are also affected by body image and insecurities. “Boys are always told they need to be strong and muscular,” said senior Amelia Davis. Both boys and girls deal with body image issues and low self-esteem on a daily basis. Kids of all ages and ethnicities try so hard to live up to the standards that society considers attractive. “People expect other people to look a certain way,” said sophomore Greg Stoner.

If you need some help increasing your self-esteem, you’re not the only one. There are many ways you can do this for yourself and not have to rely on what other people say or don’t say and what they think of you. “I like to look in the mirror and pick out things that I like about myself,” said Davis. Maybe standing in front of the mirror and looking at yourself is not the way for you that helps to build your self-esteem. “I try to block out society’s version of perfect. I try to think about what makes me happy and not what makes everyone else happy,” said Burtle.