As young women of this generation, we are constantly bombarded with two very prominent yet contradicting messages. One, that beauty is at the forefront of our worth, much thanks to the notion that perfection in looks supposedly makes life easier. The second message is that being “natural” is better; we, as young women, look at images of celebrities all the time and criticize the procedures they have gone through. So how exactly should we reconcile these two contradictory messages we hear all the time?
There are a few misconstrued assumption that we should delve into first. What is the real reason beauty matters?
Biologically, our level of beauty only has the advantage of helping us find a mate that is well-matched in appearance. Studies have shown that people usually end up with others around the same level of attractiveness and that pairings are not related to levels happiness.
Beauty matters because it truly affects how we feel about ourselves. How we feel becomes a huge indicator of how much value we THINK we have, regardless of the fact that our overall value does not stem from solely our looks. The amount of value we perceive in ourselves will reflect how much we believe we are capable of achieving.
In fact, studies often show a steady correlation between attractiveness with intelligence. Perhaps because the halo effect aside, a truly intelligent person will understand that taking care of oneself is valuable. Even if it won’t be their top priority in life, eating healthy, working out, and dressing well is essentially presenting your best at all times. While you shouldn’t feel the pressure to look your best all the time, you most definitely should be striving to be your best, 24/7. If striving to be your best involves paying attention to your body, that is not “shallow”. The shallow mindset comes when ALL you care about is how you look and are not truly understanding that this is only one subset of who you are.
Translating this to the modern times where improving the way you look costs less than investing in a rundown car, it is absolutely normal to want to have certain procedures. Be sure that you are a) doing it for yourself and not for acceptance and love from other people (if you are, it’s time to listen to Fake Love by Drake) and b) that you are really working to improve every aspect of your life as well.