A couple weeks ago, my roommates came home from the gym with a pressing question:
“What’s your favorite part about your body?”
Now, THAT was a question I had never thought of before. My least favorite part? Sure—how can I pick just one? But my favorite part?! Never thought about it, and well, wouldn’t I sound vain by saying something I LIKE about myself?
Take a minute to really think about it. What makes you confident? What are you proud to be putting out into the world?
After contemplating this for a while, I wondered what other college students would have to say. Body positivity is something that everyone seems to be struggling with, especially people my age. I decided to use my power as our events coordinator for HC here at Winona to put together an event to ask our fellow WSU students what they had to say.
Here were some of our favorite (anonymous) responses:
WSU students:
“My favorite part of my body is my smile; my favorite part of who I am is my personality.”
“My favorite part is my brain! I love that it is what truly makes up who I am. Without the ol’ computer up there, there’d be no Logan to share!”
“I like my teeth… shout out to my braces.”
“My butt for sure.”
“My eyes, duh.”
“My smile.”
“My face, because a smile and happy eyes always spreads positivity.”
“My favorite part about my body are my curves. Although there are days that I think badly about myself, I remind myself that I am who I’m meant to be!”
“My favorite part about my body is my eyes. And of me would be how honest I am.”
“1. My eyes! 2. My bubbly personality!”
“My favorite part about my body is my smile (: & my favorite part of who I am is that I’m true to myself and I don’t let anyone tell me different!”
“1) Celebrating with my friends 2) that I’m hard working and always persevere regardless of the situation.”
“My eyes so I can see the world around me. My favorite part about myself is that, a majority of the time, I put others before myself.”
“My favorite physical aspect about myself is my teeth because I am most confident when I am smiling and laughing.”
“My favorite part of my body is my eyes, and my favorite part of myself is my ability to talk to anyone.”
Members from Her Campus:
“My eyes.”
“My favorite part of my body is my smile. My favorite part of who I am is the fact that I’m not very serious and I can make anyone laugh.”
“I love my curly hair! It reminds me to embrace myself in the most natural way.”
“I love the mole at the tip of my nose because I used to be made fun of for it; but now, I realize it is unique and it makes me who I am.”
“My broad shoulders because they serve as a permanent, physical reminder of all the incredible years I spent swimming competitively; my favorite part of who I am is getting to wake up every day with the distinct ability to be uniquely myself.”
“My hair is my favorite physical part; I like that the people who are the closest to me tell me I am loyal and that’s a characteristic I’d like to always have”
“My favorite part about my body is my birthmark. It may be on my face, and sometimes people think my face is dirty or I missed my lips BIG TIME with the lipstick, but it’s little, pink, and some say it’s shaped like a heart. It’s something that no one else has and I feel like it perfectly represents the love I have to spread and share. My favorite part about who I am is my resilience.”
I thought It was interesting that people chose facial features as their favorite body part rather than the body features. I think this is because people are most likely to criticize and tear apart features that they have some degree of power over but don’t have the resources, time, or motivation to change it. Not that it’s a bad thing for your smile to be your favorite (because it’s awesome!), but it’s a safe answer. We didn’t see answers about people’s stomachs or thighs or arms and I thought that was interesting. I am so happy to challenge people with this question. We get worried about sounding vain, and it’s certainly a fine line, but that doesn’t mean you can’t feel positively about yourself, right?
Just find things about you that you love, and freaking love them.
After all, no one said it better than Kanye.
Photo credits:
Picture 1