Try to remember when you were younger and your parents told you that you could be anything you wanted to be. You could go to the moon, lead this great American melting pot, save lives, sing for thousands to hear, cut hair, serve people, serve this country, create life-changing inventions… the possibilities were limitless. When you were so young and naïve, when your best friends were the people who brought you into this world you believed it. You believed them because why wouldn’t it be true? Why can’t you be anything you want to be? There is no reason you cannot follow your dreams -- except for feeling pressured that you can’t. And who would pressure little innocent you into thinking you are not capable of living out a dream? Why, none other than the technological society surrounding you.
When you are young, you don’t realize the sheer immensity of the power the internet has on who you become. You witness these things, these fits of fashion, these "beautiful" men and women, these intense beauty rituals and you are fooled into thinking it’s all true. These ads, these videos, these pictures of what ideal people are to look like hypnotize you into thinking you will never be up to par with what the world expects of you.
In an attempt to fit the mold society has created, you buy into all of it. You become convinced that you will never be pretty enough unless you buy all the beauty products and spend all your money and time on making yourself into something you are not. You become convinced that you will never be thin enough unless you eat less -- or stop eating altogether. You find yourself feeling terrible about the person who you once found to be practically perfect in every way and you can’t figure out why.
Well, here it is: these ads, these pictures, these subliminal messages of what perfection looks like are nothing more than a petty attempt to make as much money as possible. These big corporations and brands whisk you away with promises of beauty and flawlessness when really, they are just trying to conceal the utter ugliness of their corrupt operation. They don’t want you to be happy with yourself, they want you to be constantly searching for happiness. They don’t want you to feel good about yourself forever; they want you to feel good until they come out with the next thing -- and then you won’t be happy until you have whatever that is. It is a vicious cycle. We are all apart of this cycle; we all feed into it.
Though if we are being fair, all of these money grabs by companies aren't so bad. A little business isn't a bad thing.
There is nothing wrong with deciding to eat better and work out to improve your health. There is nothing wrong with wearing a little makeup to enhance your natural beauty. There is nothing wrong with doing things that improve your wellbeing if you are fully aware that you don’t need to be doing any of it to be perfect. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do in order to feel like you have purpose or significance. All you need to do is be you, and if you want to wear that ruby red lipstick then, by god, you wear it with pride. Follow your heart and you will be perfect.
Now, if only your parents had known about all these expectations, all these things you’d see to make you feel less confident in you. They would have stood by what they said, and maybe added a bit more.
You can be whatever you want to be. You can look however you want to look. You can eat whatever you want to, wear whatever you want to, love whomever you want to -- as long as you are being who you are and loving every second of it. Everything you see on the internet is most certainly not true.
A message to all humans of the world: live your life unapologetically and authentically. Don’t just be another pretty face, be you. Never be something you aren’t. You are, after all, the only you there is. And isn’t being original fabulous?
