Category: Body Image

My Miss Colorado Experience
This past weekend was finally the weekend! The Miss Colorado USA pageant happened and I have a lot to share. Overall, the experience was wonderful. I had a lot of fun and it was empowering to be around so many beautiful, funny, and strong young ladies.

Yesterday morning, my mom, sister, and I arrived in Greeley for registration and I had a chance to meet the 2018 titleholders who were both very sweet. Shortly after, we had a pageant briefing and it was awesome to see how prepared Future Productions was for the event. It was extremely professional and I felt like I knew what I was supposed to do and where I was supposed to be at all times thanks to the amazing pageant staff and chaperones.

After the briefing, we got right into interviews with the judge panel. I was pretty nervous for this, but I walked in to meet the judges, we talked about all sorts of things, we laughed, and just like that my interview was done. And the interview lasted maybe 2 minutes? It felt so short and it really was. Following the interview competition, I participated in an optional competition for spokesmodel. Why not give it a try, right? I enjoy talking and being in front of a camera so I gave it a shot.

Next up was rehearsals for the big preliminary show that evening. There was a lot of walking in heels. Like, A LOT. I was surprised that my feet even made it to the preliminary show! All of the practice was worth though because I felt extremely prepared and confident in what I needed to do when I stepped on that stage. All of the girls who had competed before were very helpful and willing to show me where to go on stage which I really appreciated. There wasn’t a cutthroat, competitive atmosphere that is sometimes associated with pageants. The atmosphere was still competitive but everyone was there to make friends and help one another feel confident and beautiful, which I loved.

Finally, it was time to prepare for the prelims and then the show began! We all first walked out and did our intros in our fun silver and black outfits. My heart was definitely beating out of my chest and I was so so so nervous but I was having fun so the nerves went away quickly. It was a feeling similar to the adrenaline rush you get before stepping out to play a tennis match. I love it! After the miss contestants finished intro, we rushed back to the dressing rooms to change into swimsuit. Yes, swimsuit.

There has been a lot of controversy over the swimsuit competitions of many pageants and I believe that there shouldn’t be. To me, I see the swimsuit competition as an opportunity to display all the hard work you’ve put into bettering yourself. Wearing a swimsuit in front of a large crowd, like the one I walked in front of, was empowering. I’ve been working out a lot since I was cleared from my injuries forever ago and I’ve changed a lot about my eating habits to make my body what I want it to be. I was proud to walk in my swimsuit, because like I’ve said, I feel like I was showing off my months and even years of hard work. There was so much energy in the room for the swimsuit competition and walking in a swimsuit in front of that crowd was so much fun.

After swimsuit, I had a little bit of a break. The teen contestants had to complete their active wear competition as well as their evening gown competition. I had a chance to catch my breath in the dressing room and then I got dressed in my evening gown. My dress was the same dress I wore to prom senior year of high school. It’s a dress that I feel comfortable walking in and I just really love the color. When the time came to walk in our evening gowns, I had a really good time out on stage, once again. I was a bit more nervous about my dress however, because when I practiced walking in it, I occasionally stepped on my dress and guess what ended up happening during the show? As I was leaving my last spot, I stepped on my dress. I don’t think very many people noticed but that definitely made me a bit nervous about how I walked overall.

And with the conclusion of that competition, the prelims came to an end. I was exhausted after yesterday and when I got to the hotel and my head hit that pillow, I was out. The next day was finals! Woohoo! Going into today, I knew that regardless of the outcome, I would be proud of myself. I had a feeling I wouldn’t make top 15, considering the experience that many of the other girls had with pageants. When finals came around, I did not make top 15, but I still got to participate in the final show which was a lot of fun. I also didn’t receive any special awards and that’s ok! This whole experience was an award to me and I learned so much from my first time competing at Miss Colorado USA.

I would like to thank Future Productions and the Miss Universe Organization for giving me the opportunity to compete at the Miss Colorado USA pageant. I really enjoyed my weekend and met so many beautiful and awesome women who I hope to see in the future. This experience taught me a lot about myself and gave me confidence that I thought I would never have. Congrats and good luck with your year to the new titleholders, Miss Colorado USA, Madison Dorenkamp, and Miss Colorado Teen USA, Sydney Boehler! You’re both going to do amazing things. I would also like to thank my family and friends for their support throughout this process. You guys gave me the confidence to compete at Miss Colorado. I can’t wait to see where this experience takes me and I look forward to competing at Miss Colorado next year. Have a good week everyone! 🙂
October 28, 2018
Thinking Positive

Whether it’s in sports, school, work, body image, or life, it becomes very easy for people to focus on what they are doing wrong and all of the negativity. People want to succeed at what they’re doing and feel good about themselves and their accomplishments. However, it can be challenging, when one is constantly telling themselves, “This is terrible,”, “I’ll never be good enough,” or “I don’t think I can do this,”. Thinking positive is a way to turn those thoughts into something positive that will help you achieve your goals and feel better about yourself and whatever you do.

In sports, all athletes struggle with the pressure of wanting to win, not let down their coach, teammates, and parents, and perform with perfection. They also struggle with the ups and downs in their performance and when they are going through a rough period, they tend to think negatively which will only make things worse. Two words that are heard often are “can’t” and “don’t”. There are a lot of coaches out there who will tell their athletes, “Don’t hit the ball out,” or “Don’t lose,” and that causes the athletes to think about what they should not do versus what they should do. Then when athletes have talked themselves into doing the wrong thing, they start to believe that they can’t shoot a free throw, or land their back flip, or hit a float serve. Everything can go downhill if this negativity isn’t stopped in its tracks.

For example, in tennis, I can be very hard on myself. Now that I’ve been cleared to start running and playing a little bit of tennis again, my dad and I have been playing quite a bit so that I can get back into shape for the high school season. I haven’t played in about six months and getting back on the court for the first time was great, but there was frustration that came with it too. My groundstrokes were definitely not what I remembered them being and I struggled to get the ball in the actual court. My dad would ask me how my groundstrokes felt and I told him, “I’m not getting the ball in the court” and “I can’t seem to hit forehands”. After I told him that my dad told to focus on what I can do right for the next shot. I’m much more successful when I focus on the positive and what I can do to improve versus how bad my last backhand was.

The idea of thinking positive has been something I’ve been working on for a long time in tennis and life in general but it can be hard. It’s very easy to slip into a negative mindset but when you focus on what you can do to get better, you’re probably going to improve and feel better about yourself.

These same ideas can be applied to how you see yourself as a person and your goals in life. Maybe you think that you aren’t pretty or you don’t fit in. Those same two thoughts could be turned into something positive. Even in something “ugly” or negative, you could find something “beautiful” and positive to think about. And with the whole “fitting in” thing, isn’t it better to be yourself and discover who you are than fake it and be in unhealthy relationships? If you think that you aren’t good enough to try out for something, too shy to ask a teacher about something in class, or you’ll never be able to go on that trip to Japan that you’ve been dreaming about forever, you’re probably right, if you aren’t doing anything about it but complaining and thinking negative thoughts. If you think positive, you might not reach your goals when you hope you will but you’ll get there eventually. And if you don’t give going for your goals a try, how will you know you could have accomplished them anyways?

So with those same thoughts up above, you could turn those into “I’m going to make the best of this situation” “I’ll work towards my goals and achieve them”, and “I can do this”. Turning your negative thoughts into something positive, will help you out in the long run. Set goals for yourself, stick to those goals, and think positive. The road to your goals might be rough, but in the end, all of your hard work will have been worth it. You can do this!

January 10, 2016
A Note to Incoming Freshmen…

School is starting back up. Yay? I remember coming in as a freshman into high school was a very new and overwhelming experience. So here’s a letter to all of the incoming freshmen. Even if you aren’t going to be an incoming freshman, you might be able use some of this advice.

Dear Incoming Freshmen,

Going into high school can be kind of scary and intimidating and overwhelming, especially on the first day, but you’ll get used to it. You might have trouble finding your classes at first and a hard time with your locker combo but like I said earlier, you’ll learn the tricks and remember what you need to, and everything will be okay. And if you don’t have problems with any of that stuff, then good for you! You really know what you’re doing. 🙂 The sophomores and upperclassmen might be intimidating and scary and mean, but they were once in your position and know exactly what you’re going through. They are actually pretty nice, helpful, and good to be around, once you get to personally know them.

Make sure you study hard and work hard in all of your classes. Take notes, ask questions, and try your hardest on everything. A lot of students think it’s okay and cool to put little effort into projects and papers. They think it’s cool to ditch class and “go to the bathroom” to hang out with friends. Honestly, it looks silly and kind of embarrassing. Think about it this way, is it more impressive to have good grades and be successful in school or be to known as the “cool” kid who never works hard in class, doesn’t turn in papers and homework, and ditches to go to Starbucks, or wherever people go when they ditch? In the end, all of your hard work will pay off and you can do whatever you want to do with your life. If you work hard in school, you can go to a good college, and then have a solid job and good life. Nothing comes just like that.

Also, be yourself. You probably hear this a lot these days. “Be yourself”, “don’t be afraid to show who you really are”, and “don’t listen to what others have to say about you” are all pretty common things said these days, especially to teens who are figuring out who they are. In high school, most people are figuring out who they are and what they want to do with their lives. You might already know what you want to do with your life and you might not, and either way is okay. People will pressure you to become something and do certain things like ditch class or cheat and things like that. If you want to take that road, no one’s stopping you. If you don’t want to do that, then say no and stand up for what you want to do and what you think is right. Joining clubs or sports in school are good ways to meet people you want to be around. If you want to wear sweatpants and a t-shirt everyday, then you do that or if you want to join theater or do sports then you do that. To sum this huge paragraph all up, you shouldn’t feel pressured to be something you aren’t. Do what you feel is right and, well, be yourself.
And of course, have fun. Enjoy every moment and make the most of it!

Sorry if this note turned into a pretty long letter! Haha. I know all of you will do well your freshman year. I wish you all the best of luck with this year and the rest of your high school career. Make the most of your year, class of 2019! Good luck incoming freshmen!

Best of luck,

Ana Horvath

August 23, 2015