Isn’t it crazy? Crazy how easily we’re ruled by others. Crazy how we hide behind our social media because we’re too afraid to show the world who we really are. Once upon a time kings and queens sat high and mighty, declaring their rule and asserting that everyone did as they say. However, today’s kings and queens don’t sit in castles in far away lands. Instead, they are on our news feed. They are on the cover of every tabloid next to a headline reading, “Every celebrity who showed us their PERFECT beach body this summer.” They are in our minds everytime we look in the mirror. Without knowing it, we have let these “influencers” and celebrities penetrate our minds, creating an image of what we think perfect should look like.
In today’s society we are constantly bombarded with celebrities and their seemingly perfect lives: their “naturally airbrushed” bodies and lavish lifestyles. Consequently, we have begun to hold our follower count to a higher standard than our relationships. We no longer sit by the phone waiting for our friends to call and catch up but rather we sit, phone in hand, waiting for the perfect time to post so that we get the most likes. And if we don’t? If we don’t get enough likes on the picture we spent an hour editing to ‘perfection?’ Well we delete it of course, because clearly, we weren’t good enough.
After clicking delete on our once perfect photo, we swipe through picture after picture of celebrities endorsing fad weight-loss treatments and waist trainers as they stand there with their tiny waists and big butts, and we begin to think “Why can’t I just look like them?” But when are we going to stop comparing ourselves to the glamorized lives of those we know nothing about besides what we read online? When will we stop comparing ourselves to the girls on Instagram who have professional photographers, makeup and hair stylists, and hours of editing put into their posts? When will we ever stop pretending to be something we’re not and instead embrace the beautiful people that we are? When will we stop idolizing others and start prioritizing ourselves?