"There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy." - Friedrich Nietzsche
It can be scary to sustain an injury in an accident or because of illness. The body we largely ignore, assuming it will function at an optimum level indefinitely, is suddenly vulnerable, flawed and requires our undivided attention. It demands that we prioritise its needs, tune into its every nuance and respond with care. Its oblivious to us having places to be, people to meet or responsibilities. It reminds us that it is the boss and it cannot be neglected or ignored. It cannot be mistreated or abused. The message it sends – that healing is paramount – is salutary and essential. Everything and everyone else must wait.
Our bodies are miraculous and mysterious, robust yet delicate, endlessly surprising yet with important limitations. All human bodies are fundamentally the same yet house individuals as diverse as our limitless imaginations.
When we’re young, it’s almost inevitable that we are fearless, feel invincible and want to experiment with the lengths to which we can test our bodies. It’s almost a cliché that the young assume they will live forever, that the mere mention of old age is akin to speaking to them in an alien language as their eyes glaze over and they sigh! Old age is never a planet they will inhabit – that’s what they think. In many contradictory ways, we want the young to be brave, to explore new horizons and to test their limitations. After all, being a ‘risk taker’ is an element of the IB Learner Profile and some of the most amazing feats of endurance and the most phenomenal discoveries are a consequence of the young, curious, and fearlessly leaping in where angels have previously feared to tread.
There can be a heady price to pay, though, for ignoring body signals. Consider the accumulated research and current alerts to sportspeople about concussion and the fatalities we continue to see on roads due to alcohol, speed, and exhaustion. There are those who simply must bungee jump, skydive, swim with predatorial ocean life, run with bulls, ice climb, see great white sharks up close, raft in treacherous rapids and summit precipitous mountains. There is a proliferation of vaping. Millions of people consume fat clogged fast food. It seems that we humans take an interminable period or a tragedy to cherish our bodies.
There are those, too, who, very sadly, adopt ludicrous measures to adhere to fictional ‘ideals’ of bodies. The Australian Butterfly Foundation (Positive body image Butterfly Foundation) is a reputable organisation for those caught up in dangerous modes of body destruction. Increasingly, there is evidence of the malevolent impact social media and influencers can have on perceptions of beauty. (Is there a relationship between social media and body image?). One example the Foundation cites is ‘image-centric social media platforms like Instagram’. We know that cyberbullying can negatively impact body image and self-esteem. Filtering and editing tools can make people feel inadequate and ‘TikTok content often promotes disordered eating habits, presenting thinner body types as more ideal and preying on the viewers’ insecurities around their bodies…‘ A 2024 study noted that “thinspiration” or “fitspiration” are likely to trigger poor body image and eating disorders’
"Life is so much more beautiful and complex than a number on a scale" - Tess Holliday
The Butterfly Foundation explains that body image refers to ‘the values and beliefs we hold about our body and appearance, the way we think and feel and the attitudes and behaviours we engage in’. They advocate body positivity – inclusive promotion of ALL bodies irrespective of their ‘size, abilities, colour, gender, or shape.’ We are all valuable and enough, deserving of respect and appreciation.
Beyond Blue advocate we need to focus on our personal strengths and qualities that are not appearance-based so our self -esteem is robust and our lifestyle conducive to overall health. Laura Bajurny, from the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, claims ‘…young people can easily acquire both nicotine and non-nicotine vapes online… and that they are aggressively marketed targeted at young people. She explains that ‘…heavy alcohol consumption is connected to some of the most common causes of death for young people – accidents and injuries including drownings, motor vehicle crashes. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ National Health Survey (March 2022) … ‘one in four Australians drinks too much and those 18 to 24 are more likely to have consumed five or more on any day at least once a month consistent with “heavy episodic drinking”,
At ISWA, we imbue all our student interactions with reflections on their strengths, ways they can appreciate themselves and how to form healthy habits. These are all elements of the S.E.A.R.C.H. pathways in Visible Wellbeing. We want every student to be resilient so they can avoid physical, emotional and psychological injury. We encourage them to recognise their uniqueness, to maximise their potential and to be thankful.
– Christine Rowlands
