• Young alum’s TED Talk: Imperfections are okay, insecurities are not

    You’re familiar with the Golden Rule: treat others how you’d want to be treated. But what if we flipped that and treated ourselves how we treat others?

    Recent Baylor alumna and graduate student Lauren Bagwell, BSED ’15, explored this idea in a TED Talk she gave last month at SMU. Lauren has struggled with binge eating disorder (BED) since she was in seventh grade. Among eating disorders, BED is the most common — but the least talked about. Lauren didn’t even realize she could get help until the summer before she came to Baylor; after the fact, she realized that her negative self-image was because she wouldn’t allow herself to think positively about herself.

    “In our society, it’s wrong to give yourself a compliment,” she says in her 10-minute talk. “Our society has told us that loving yourself is not the right way to live. … My journey with having BED taught me that the way I talked to myself was never how I would talk to someone else.

    “Imperfections are okay. What’s not okay is when we allow those imperfections to become insecurities. The truth of the matter is, you were created with a body that no one else has. You were created with a group of talents that no one else has. Because you have a talent and a purpose and a calling that no one else can fulfill.”

    As an undergrad at Baylor, Lauren studied secondary education and participated in several student groups, including Chi Omega, Baylor Fencing Club, Baylor Missions, and Baylor Poetry SLAM. Today, she is working on her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction in Baylor’s School of Education. She uses her passions for poetry and performance to share her own story and to encourage others that they have the right to be seen and the right to be heard.

    Sic ’em, Lauren!