“I’m still a teenager who’s insecure every day,” she says
When you scroll through your Instagram, it’s easy to start comparing yourself to others and feel your self-esteem decreasing. Even your favorite actors deal with it, too. Rowan Blanchard recently revealed that she’s definitely not immune to feeling self-conscious or insecure, just like the rest of us. But when asked if she could share some advice about dealing with the pressure, the Girl Meets World actress explained that she’s still trying to figure it all out, too.
“I mean, I feel that pressure to look a certain way [too], so I don’t feel totally exempt from this or like I have this figured out,” she shared. “But I think we feel that pressure to look a certain way because we were told we have to look a certain way, so it’s only natural that we feel like we have to. I grew up with a lot of magazines that were marketed towards teens that had headlines about how you can lose weight, or how you can look ‘fit,’ or how you can get a ‘bikini body.’ Those types of headlines inherently breed that sort of self-loathing young women already have. Specific advice I give myself whenever I feel very insecure, or insecure about my body, or how I look in a dress — all of these things — I try to tell myself that a lot of it is in my head. This is a hard one, because I’m still a teenager who’s insecure every day.”
Rowan definitely has a point. Sometimes it can feel like making efforts to work on you health (which is a great thing) can feel like you’re trying to combat insecurities (which can sometimes be awful.) So how does she suggest we find a balance that works for our individual selves?
“I feel like a lot of how we think about health is with goals, whether that’s to lose weight, or to look, I don’t know, what’s marketed as ‘feminine’ or what’s marketed as ‘fit.’ I try to think of it as what’s being healthy and what’s not being healthy,” she shared. “I always let myself enjoy everything in moderation, and just know that you have to be conscious of what you’re putting into your body. But I’m never over-conscious about it because I’m pretty young.”
“One thing that generally helps is running or walking around, or doing some sort of timed activity where I can just listen to music and not really think about anything else,” she added. “That definitely helps your mental health, and so does trying to stay off social media as much as possible. Daily mental health activities that I should be trying to practice more are reading books—things that are physical and not on your phone. Because I feel like a phone, subconsciously, probably really stresses us out.”
That’s a really great outlook – and we’re gonna totally try her suggestions!
Watch below as more of your favorite stars open up about social media pressure.
1. Kira Kosarin
2. Casey Simpson
3. Why Don’t We
4. Landry Bender
5. Nia Sioux
