REMAINING BODY POSITIVE AFTER GAINING "THE COVID-19

BY JESSICA MOUW

When the ball dropped on Jan. 1st, millions worldwide looked towards the new year with optimistic eyes and the intention to pursue new goals. In the wake of the gleaming novelty of a new decade, many set out with an ambition to create the best, healthiest and strongest version of themselves. But when tragedy struck, maintaining healthy habits and cultivating confidence by means of fitness and nutrition became less attainable as the world shifted into a reality no one had experienced before.

As the world shut down and news grew bleeker by the minute, stress set in and boredom took hold. Many college students found that maintaining a positive body image was difficult. Three ISU students touch on their experience with quarantine weight gain and body positivity.

“I feel like inconsistency was the main thing,” Taylor Heuthorst, a freshman in english said. “It was like my sleep schedule was ruined because of COVID and finding the consistency in routines was difficult for me. I found myself baking and eating without thinking about it. There was nothing better to do.”

In many ways, the tragedy of COVID-19 provided society with the most overt, hard-hitting set of evidence that there are simply more important things in life than a few extra pounds. When we were separated from the world and left with little company but ourselves, overthinking and insecurity set in. This was only made harder by a large internet influence that caters glorified beauty standards to millions of people with endless amounts of time to internalize them.

“Remaining positive was definitely my biggest struggle” Kayla Krohn, a freshman majoring in psychology said. “It was like, I went from working out consistently and knowing I always had the resources to get healthy and feel my best to feeling doubtful about everything,”Krohn said. “My body confidence was just another thing that felt like it was in the hands of the world, rather than myself. However, whenever I felt myself slipping into such negative emotions I found it important to consistently remind myself that there were much bigger things going on in the world and I was lucky, above all, to have a healthy body.”

So how do we regain control of our confidence after all we have gone through? While everyone’s path to self love looks different, moving forward and reestablishing routines are important for many as things begin to creep indeterminately back to “normal”. For Bailey Kollasch, a freshman majoring in business management, working out has been crucial to regaining a sense of normalcy and confidence.

“As quarantine boredom and just a general lack of things to do set in, I started to work out again,” Kollasch said. “Doing at-home workouts helped me move forward and keep the negative thoughts away.” Kollasch said.

If 2020 has taught our society anything, it is that big new realities require big adjustments. Just as we must remain patient in the bumpy, uncertain pursuit of transitioning safely back to school and socialization, fostering peace with our own imperfections is crucial.

Even minuscule amounts of forgiveness and understanding go a long way. The sooner we realize that the bodies that carried us, healthily and courageously, through a pandemic need not feel worthless simply because they contain a few extra slices of boredom-induced banana bread, the better.