The mindset that women are taught to cave to the pressure of being perfect is not only a modern day headache, but has been around for as long as we can remember. It is a reality that this generation faces every day on social media platforms and apps that can make our life’s look as flawless as the airbrush filter people use on a blemish in their “no makeup” selfie.
The truth is, there has always been a standard type of beautiful the “it” girl that lasts for a season no matter what generation you’re from. We look at these women, the ones who are famous, in the hallways at school, or the ones on our Instagram feed, and then we compare ourselves. She has blue eyes and you have brown eyes, she has small breasts and you have large breasts, she has that purse that you’ve been saving every penny for and you have the Forever 21 knock off. We look at individuals and evaluate them like it’s our homework. Why? Because no one can be perfect. Which is something we need to remind ourselves more often than not.
It is second nature to compare ourselves to others and the way they make us feel. In the long run, comparing ourselves to others to feel adequate hurts us even more than owning our own self-worth and beauty. Comparing ourselves to others can fuel competitiveness as opposed to collaboration, comparing ourselves to the edited girl on Instagram can fuel jealousy as opposed to making connections. If this is how you determine your self-worth, you will never achieve your goals. This is why we are made to look different, speak differently and have different talents. So we can give, take, patch and peel, until we believe we are perfect inside-out.
We focus on what we do not have and we diminish ourselves over what we are missing. What would our world look like if everyone was the epitome of perfection? Boring. Our mindsets over the obsession to look perfect would increase. The bottom line is that standards, styles and seasons are ever changing, so you might as well do whatever the hell you believe is beautiful. That sense of self-confidence will reflect onto others and will outwardly show how beautiful you are, inside and out.