It’s My Body
“You owe yourself to become everything you’ve ever dreamed of”- Alivia D’Andrea
Trigger warnings: mentions of food, body image and diet.
Self-worth should not be tied down to the expectations others put onto to you; positive changes should come from your own desire to change.
‘The glow up diaries’ is a docu-series which follows Alivia, who two years ago began sharing her journey towards achieving the body she wanted, covering difficult topics such as body image, weight, self-love, and college rejections. The honesty she portrays through each video is captivating, sharing little aspects of internal struggles which are often kept hidden.
The season 1 trailer is a perfect introduction to the journey she will share with you.
“I remember looking in the mirror wanting to see less of it. A girl with a body she’s unhappy with. Acne covered face and sad eyes were staring back at me. Will she stay with me forever? Why can’t I feel the will to better her?”
I was slightly apprehensive to start watching when I first discovered her YouTube channel. I thought it was going to be the same as all the other weight loss journey tutorials on YouTube. However, I couldn’t have been further from the truth. The raw reality of growing up in a society where young people are constantly told what they should be, how they should look and the hurtful comments that many of us receive can be truly damaging to our mindsets; Alivia showed this in the most honest way possible. She used binge eating as a way to cope but this was also her biggest challenge for her to overcome.
“Food was her blissful escape yet kept her miserably trapped in this cycle”
YouTube channels often don’t get the recognition they deserve while competing with other platforms such as Netflix. However, some of the best content can be found on YouTube as creators aren’t restricted to what they can produce. It’s self-made content, without the burdens of profit being the driving force behind the material produced. You can tell that Alivia puts her all into the content she makes. I would recommend her content to anyone struggling with self-image. Alivia is currently uploading series 2 of her journey.
Change comes from within; it’s your body and change will only be successful if you are doing it for yourself.
