Recently I was scrolling through Instagram and saw that one of my friends had posted a progress picture of her body. She had been working out a lot and she wanted to show off how proud she was of her hard work.

I was proud of her too, but my reaction to the picture did not make it seem that way. Instead of commenting, “Wow! You look so good!” all I said was “Ugh, you’re so skinny, I hate you.”

I admit to myself that it was out of jealousy. I have been struggling with my body recently, and seeing a picture of someone looking good made me self-conscious of my own body and made me sad when I realized that I don’t look like that.

It sounds ridiculous I know, and I should just be happy for her. Don’t get me wrong, I am so happy for her and the progress she has made, but sometimes it is so hard to not compare yourself to people. Especially today with social media so prevalent in our lives, every other picture I see on Instagram is a girl showing off her super toned, skinny body.

I also think that in this day and age it is hard for people to be happy for someone when they lose weight because they are automatically thinking, “well why don’t I look like that?” The immediate reaction is never about how they look, it is always about how does their body compare to mine.

Yes, I am talking about myself… but I know a lot of other people out there that are guilty of this too.

I think that with social media and all of these editing apps that are so easy to access, it is so easy to pretend that you look different than you do in real life. Usually that means making yourself look skinnier and your teeth look whiter online. I think this is why a lot of girls have body-image issues, because this is the only type of body that they see on the internet. Girls assume that because this is the only body that they see, it is the only body that will be accepted.

People think that stick skinny is “normal,” and when you have curves and a butt you are considered “fat.” If people posted about how they really looked on social media, then having different body types would be more accepted in this society.

I think that it starts with changing the language that we use when talking about bodies. Instead of saying, “you’re so skinny,” we could say, “you look so healthy.” Looking good does not mean looking skinny, looking good means being confident in yourself and being happy with the way you look.

It all starts with the way we talk about it. It starts with me and you and everyone else.