Back In the day before social media became a big hype, we barely had any references. We used to do our hair, makeup, style our clothes in the best way we thought it could be, we used to accept the shape of our bodies, and we used to celebrate our uniqueness.
But now with social media, we have references and standards everywhere and sometimes close-to-perfect references which are impossible to be achieved in real life.
Perfect makeup, perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfect teeth, perfect bodies, perfect-looking boyfriends, perfect-looking girlfriends, shiny faces in selfies.
That what most of us see on a regular basis, that when we turn to look to ourselves in the mirror we see all of our what-we-NOW-think is imperfect features. Our teeth, our skin, our hair, our bodies.
Some even take the first step to change the imperfect they thought they had to the perfect they will never have.
They begin the change process, getting veneers applied on their already healthy-looking teeth, getting lip fillers on their originally symmetrical lips.
And if the doctors mess up, they are the one who is going to pay the price. And if the doctors succeeded, by the time they got home, they will find a new standard has appeared.
So the deadly cycle begins, we are losing ourselves, and we begin to forget how to accept things the way they are.
We have been transformed into perfectionists.
My Experience
I fell for this trap, the perfect looking girls with their perfect hair, flat stomach, clothes, made me think less of myself, made me feel that I have to do more.
I was born a perfectionist but now I am an obsessed perfectionist.
In my case, I did not want to look exactly like the girls I see, but I refused to accept myself, I wanted to meet the standards at least.
Longing for perfection as much as I could.
It is a deadly cycle, I can not get my life to be that perfect, I will never be able to.
As time goes by, I began to understand the harsh truth of media and what it tries to deliver, I started to slowly embrace myself and climb out of the toxic media hole.
But I would find myself still longing for perfection due to my nature, and with social media being around everywhere, it is hard to climb out of that hole completely.
What To Do To Survive
Check Your Social Media Less
That seems a no-brainer, but it does work at a certain level. unfortunately, not all of us can give up either because of our work is based on social media or either we are addicted to it.
If your work based on it, try to do the work you have to do there and just leave the app. It is tempting to check what is going on but you will find that half an hour or even an hour passed by with no use.
And if you are addicted, try to uninstall the apps so you don’t have easy access to them, spend a day with them uninstalled then install them again then remove them for few days after, it will work in the long run and your addiction will be gone.
Follow Real People
I am not referring to people who post “Instagram vs reality” kind of stuff because most of them do this trick to gain more audience.
It is hard to identify real ones sometimes who show their real personalities, but it is worth to try looking for them.
Pause And Ask Yourself
Does this photo reflect a person’s real life?
In the end, it is just a photo that pauses a sec in their life, it happened that they smiled and looked the best they could in it.
But does this photo show what is happening backstage? No.
Focus More On Life Around You
The more we sink into the world of social media the more we think it is the real world, but Nah.
It is not real life.
Going out, seeing the world, spending time with friends and family, and meeting new people is real life. you will come to realize that social media does not always reflect our realities.
In Conclusion
Turning into a perfectionist because of social media is not healthy in the long and short run, the key is to accept and embrace our uniqueness and be satisfied with what we have.
If we achieved those morals, social media won’t be able to conquer us.
And if it happens that we want to change something in ourselves, it must be because we want to not because society and media said we have to.
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