Description: This week, Dr. Boogren reveals some startling statistics and some challenges for the Squad to help live our best lives.
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Transcription: Hi, and welcome to Self-Care for Educators. I'm your host, Tina Boogren. This is episode 34 of our third season, and this week's invitation is an important one. As I believe I've shared, I am currently working on getting certification through Girls Gone Strong, which is this incredible organization, and I'm learning so much in my certification. But, one of the things that I ran across recently kind of stopped me in my tracks, and it's this--79% of young girls and 85% of women have opted out of important life events, because they felt they didn't look good enough. Let me just say that again. 79% of young girls and 85% of women have opted out of important life events, because they felt they didn't look good enough. 81% of women feel dissatisfied with their bodies, and I know this is you not, not unique to just women, but man does it hit us really hard. And so, what I want us to do is think about some concrete things that we can do to kind of chip away at this. I want us to really think about our body image this week, and I know that makes a lot of us shutter, and it's a hard thing to think about, but there's a couple of activities that we can do that can be really, really powerful at reflecting on this and maybe starting to chip away at finding a new way of thinking about ourselves.
So, I'm gonna give you a couple of ideas. Exercise number one, what I want you to do is I want you to write down 10 things that you like about your body. I want you to take a minute. I want you to list 10 things you like about your body and really you guys think about, think about how much there is to love. Maybe you love your freckles. Maybe you've got strong, healthy nails. Maybe your hair is thick and shiny. Maybe you love the color of your eyes in the sun. Maybe you have, like me, these crazy long fingers that make typing so much easier. Like just think about 10 things that you actually like about your body and write them down.
Okay, that's exercise number one. The second thing that I want you to think about is I want you to make a list of 10 things that your body does for you. Think about all of those things that your body does for you. Can you list 10 things that you particularly appreciate? Maybe that your body lets you chase after your kids on the playground or your strong legs that allow you to go hiking and how excited you are to go use those legs this summer. You get the idea, 10 things that your body does for you.
And then, the final exercise, exercise number three is I want you to write down three things ... No. I'm sorry, 10 things that ... 10 ways that you add value to the world. Let me say that again, because I jumbled it, and I try to do these in one take. So, bear with me. Exercise number three, I want you to write down 10 ways that you add value to the world. Forget about being humble. This is the time that I want you to brag. Maybe you add value because you make people laugh. Maybe you are a great listener. Maybe you are a really compelling storyteller. Whatever it is, I want you to think of and write down 10 ways that you add value to the world.
So, those are the three exercises. Exercise number one, I want you to pause, and I want you to write down 10 things that you like about your body. Number two, I want you to write down 10 things that your body does for you, and number three, I want you to write down 10 ways that you add value to the world. And, I know a lot of times we hear these and we think, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll do that sometime, or That's something that I should do. I'm gonna put that on my to-do list. But, this week I want you to really commit to doing this. And, if you have a ... If you have a young child in your life, especially a young girl, maybe this is something that you do together with your daughter or with a small group of students, or if you are a counselor, this might be an activity that you can, you can utilize. Because, I wanna go back, and I want us to think about what I said at the very beginning. 79% of young girls and 85% of women have opted out of important life events, because they felt they didn't look good enough. The consequences of that is, is terrifying. In fact, let me add a little bit more to this.
So, according to the National Organization for Women, up to 60% of elementary school girls are concerned about becoming too fat and a whopping 87% of girls who don't feel good about the way they look will stop themselves from eating or otherwise put their health at risk. As you think about those numbers, what I want you to really concentrate on and consider for this week is how we make steps in the other direction. And, I think we start with ourselves just like with everything else. So, I want you to try those three exercises and maybe jump over to the Facebook group and share a couple of those to really celebrate with each other. I think this is just an important thing for us to think about. Especially right now during this time of year when we are getting bombarded with all this slim up for summer, summer stuff and getting your body swimsuit ready and all of that nonsense. Let's just work to push against that a little bit and think about how we can chip away at some of these scary statistics and start to make some real changes in our own lives and then branch out from there. Awesome. I'm cheering so hard for you guys.
Thank you. As always, thank you to Brooke for making this happen. Thank you to Solution Tree and Marzano Resources for this incredible job I get to do. And for you, my bad-ass Self-Care Squad. You are amazing. You are beautiful, and you are so important. Thank you so much for the incredible work that you do. I'm cheering so hard for you. Make it an amazing week.