I scroll through Instagram, Facebook and other social platforms occasionally and I see a lot of flawless bodies and flawless faces. Most of them especially, the celebrities, Victoria Secret models, actresses and musicians, everyone looks so perfect. I sit down watching this and think about how much I am short of perfection. However something came to mind and made me change my perspective towards it.
The magazine cover model, the Instagram models and most of the perfect looking influencers desire to be as beautiful in person as they are in the photo. Of course that might sound ridiculous to some, but it is true. The pictures are well edited, filtered and touched up until the subject of the photo can no longer recognize herself.
Don't forget that a lot of the perfect photos you see on your PC, your phone or in the magazines is special effects, makeup and good light. No one starts the day with great hair and great skin. I know that I do not. Sometimes I wake up with a rash of acne or hair that will not cooperate except I do not feel guilty about it. If you start comparing yourself to those perfect photos, you'll naturally look down on you. Take a moment to remind yourself that even the most gorgeous women in the world get those days. They just don't talk about them for you to know.
Most people are too hard towards themselves all because they compare themselves to things and people they see online. We compare faces bodies and lives. We never compare equally because we compare photo shopped realities. We think we are behind or in short supply when we are merely human beings. To be human is to not look perfect every single time. Nobody is ever perfect all the times.
When I kept this simple but profound revelation that even professional models feel insecure, I stopped being too hard on myself.
I still work on myself each day to be better than yesterday but I began being kinder to myself. I began paying attention to little things that make me, me. The freckles on my face, the way my smile goes, the weird laugh I do, all that ain't flaws, it's what sets me apart from others and it's what makes me human.
You owe yourself to be kind to yourself too. Don't forget that you are not a picture that requires touchups. You are a human being with feelings and experiences both positive and negative ones. Good and bad days will come.
A lot of what you see on social media is an illusion of life, not the reality that those people are living in. Yes there are extremely beautiful people without filters and some even look better in real life than in photos but comparing with others is never wise.
The woman in the photo you're admiring and wishing to look like may be thinking the same way about herself.
So go easy on yourself.