In a society built on hierarchy and rankings, whether it be the best schools or the most beautiful, we measure ourselves by comparison.
We measure how we look against the standards that fashion magazine editors, Hollywood casting directors, etc. consider beautiful, pretty, attractive. Essentially, these are imaginary standards to which only a few can adhere remotely closely.
When we fail to meet such standards in whatever way, our level of appreciation for our own physical characteristics are lowered, and are lowered still when others corroborate our views (or maybe the reverse happens). The worst point is when you cannot even face the mirror, disgusted at your own reflection.
Isn’t it ridiculous that so many of our insecurities root from this imaginary scale? Why let what one person’s, or even millions of people’s, often limited scope of beauty seep into our self-perception, and distort it then such that we cannot find ourselves comfortable with what we are, what we have been given?
It is by no means an easy task to remove from ourselves the constraints that society has placed on how people come to see us. But to overcome these limits, we begin with how we see ourselves. The mirror may be objective, a means of reflecting back to you exactly as you look, but how we interpret our own reflection is the only rigor worth conquering in coming to terms with what we have been dealt.
Change is only real, after all, when it comes from within.
- Allyson