NACOGDOCHES COUNTY, TX (KTRE) -
Love yourself week is Stephen F. Austin State University's version of National Eating Disorder Week. For the past few years, faculty have been celebrating self-esteem by promoting positive images to students during this week.
"You don't have to wait to fit into those jeans. You can fit into the jeans you fit in right now because those are perfect; you're perfect the way you are," Chrystina Wyatt said.
Loving who you are is what SFA personal trainers, counselors and dieticians are teaching students to live by not only this week but every day.
"We encourage students to love the skin they're in. It's not about size; it's about how you feel. So, trying to treat your body well by being physically active and eating well and by being comfortable with where you're at and not always trying to achieve something different," Sarah Drake, SFA dietician, said.
Students said it's hard to believe that someone looks perfect all the time and the before and after images of celebrities they were shown were a great example that not everyone is flawless.
Rachel Sampeck, an SFA senior, said as a young woman and a student there's pressure to look just like celebrities and models in magazines.
"There's a lot of reality television where everyone seems to have a perfect life especially in college because college is one of those times where you're trying to find yourself and you're really influenced, so I would say yes there's probably more pressure in college," Sampeck said.
There may be a lot of pressure to fit the ideal image that's portrayed in magazines and other media outlets but Monday students learned that body image is how you see yourself when you look in the mirror and picture yourself in your mind. Students were also taught being able to emit positivity, happiness, and security all start with loving yourself.
"It doesn't really matter what the media says or what people say because you feel good about yourself and nobody can change that," Sampeck said.
This week the campus recreation center will be collecting jeans to donate to the Family Crisis Center of East Texas. If you have any old pairs of jeans you are not using, you're asked to please donate them to help with efforts. There will be a box in the student recreation center for donations.
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