This piece originally appeared on Proud2Bme.org. 

According to TOTEMS, Instagram currently has 200 million monthly active users, 20 billion total photos, and 1.6 billion likes on 60 million photos shared every day.  These photos help us document our daily lives, show off our newest outfits, favorite pets, and delicious meals. But Instagram can also be used to do so much more, to create change and spread self-love and body positivity.  

This year during National Eating Disorder Awareness (NEDAwareness) week, February  22-28, the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), Aerie, Instagram, and Proud2BMe are excited to launch a new social media campaign, focused on self-love, acceptance, and embracing the beauty of everyday life. Join us this year with the #loveyourrealselfie and share a photo in which you are able to express self-love and what that means to you. 

#loveyourrealselfie

For me, loving myself means taking the time to do things I enjoy, like getting dressed up, going out with friends and enjoying life without worrying about work, school, or my to do list. It means embracing the moment and allowing myself to feel happy and beautiful, inside and out.

About this blogger: Michelle Zaydlin is currently a senior at the University of Michigan and will be graduating this May with a B.S. in Neuroscience and Spanish. She is currently involved with NEDA as a coordinator of the second annual Ann Arbor, MI NEDA Walk and a member of Dance Marathon which helps support pediatric rehabilitation therapies at local children’s hospitals. She also works as a physics study group leader through the science learning center at the University and as a behavior technician doing applied behavior analysis (ABA) with children on the autism spectrum.