When you woke up today, did you jump out of bed and feel great about yourself? Were you full of belief in what uniquely makes you, you? Were you brimming with glorious self-confidence that threatened to spill out and rule the world?
If the answer is no, then dear reader, read on! (If it is yes, than go you that’s wonderful! Have a spectacular day and go achieve your dreams! You can also read on anyway too.)
According to a recent study made by Boston College and reported by by USA Today, females in college often leave University with lower self-confidence then when they entered as freshman.
Is this true? Is this because we become disillusioned with the world that we entered into as starry-eyed freshman and now are feeling the pressure of competing in the workplace and actually having to go be adults with jobs and other really scary stuff? (I know I’m still a freshman, and I am terrified of the day when I will have to know what I’m going to do with my life.)
Well, if this were true, then you’d think guys would have the same downward slope in feeling good about themselves, which doesn’t seem to be the case. We are prepared for the world by college, or at least we are supposed to be, and we go to a great school that will help us get an excellent job if we utilize its resources. But according to the study, despite reports of high academic achievement, most female students in the Boston college survey gave themselves weaker self-evaluations than they had given at the beginning of freshman year.
So why DO we lose confidence when we are smart, well-educated at an awesome University, basically awesome, and can go for whatever we want in life?
Well, everyone can relate to feeling in high-school like they weren’t good enough. The same holds true in college. We often hold ourselves to impossibly high standards, which only leads to poor self-condfidence and self-image, lowered self-esteem and general unhappy feelings. Who likes unhappy feelings?
Nobody, that’s who.
Still, females feel the pressure to be perfect every day. And the media of the world sure doesn’t help.
Look good, be happy, be pretty, don’t be slutty, don’t be a prude, ace your tests, don’t be a know-it-all, be involved, make time for friends, look like a Victoria Secret model, have wonderful fashion taste, laugh and smile all the time and for goodness sakes, buy this product that will help you achieve those perfectly smooth legs, that shampoo commercial hair, this skin product that is guaranteed to work wonders on you because you are definitely not good enough right now, you need this product to be perfect.
This is what the media tells us, and it doesn't seem fair at all to me. Nobody can be everything at once! Maria Pascucci, the founder of “Campus Calm”, an organization geared to helping college women lead healthy, happy lives, states in the USA Today article that the media sends “mixed messages” to young girls, telling them to always be the best they can be, but at the same time persuading them to buy more and continually alter themselves to fit the style of the product and the times.
Being a perfectionist is glorified and almost acceptable in society, but it’s actually a form of self-abuse, that only hurts us in the long run and can sometimes cause depression, anxiety, and other not-fun things that we shouldn’t have to worry about, because every single one of us is awesome.
What we need to do, as girls, is stop beating ourselves down for things. Our sense of worth should come from within!
So stop comparing yourself with others. That does absolutely nothing for your self-esteem.
Be happy with yourself for what you do, whether it’s acing a test, studying for a test, grabbing food with friends, finishing or starting a work-out, watching the season finale your favorite Netflix show, or getting out of bed in the morning. Whatever you do, be proud!! You just rocked that. Own it!
We have so much to bring to the playing field than our surface appearance. Let’s prove the study wrong, and send our self-esteem levels rocketing!
You, lovely reader, are a cool, unique person (especially for reading my blog) and I hope you have an amazing day!
