Distorted Idea of Beauty

Several days ago, my best friends and I had an interesting conversation about body positivity. I opened the topic on an idle afternoon—while they were all at work, hustling like a person should. At first, I just asked what body positivity meant to them, out of pure curiosity—as I feel the phrase has been used to promote unhealthy lifestyle. Fortunately, they all agree that it is about respecting and appreciating your body, about taking care of it by leading a healthy lifestyle and diet and accepting it in its uniqueness. That being said, some of them admit to not yet able to truly apply it to their own lives and bodies. The conversation then turns to the role our looks have on our self-worth—how many percents does our appearance contribute to our self-esteem? After deep consideration, I myself was surprised to find that my self-esteem only consists of a small percentage of looks—some of my best friends say the same, although some others say theirs are higher. It's inevitable to start talking about how we hate how we look sometimes. This—it turns out—might actually be related to how few compliments we receive from our closest comrades on our appearance. It may not be everything, but it helps to know that people who like us likes what look like too.

Old dress + shoes // Hand-me-down bomber jacket + tights + purse // thrifted hat // photos by Gina

One of the reasons we dislike the way we look, too, is seeing ourselves in photos—and how strange they can seem sometimes. However, what we often don't realise is that photos are basically a distorted image based on light play. A minor change in the light source, intensity or even colour can create a huge difference in how an object is portrayed. It takes a genetic skill to actually look photogenic. Aside from the fact that light can enhance or downgrade someone's beauty, we are always our harshest critics. We are quick to judge ourselves based on the so-called 'flaws' that we see popping all over our bodies, when no one else even noticed it. For instance, in these photos, I can clearly see the one zit on my left cheek and the dishevelled fringe that I missed—like they were marked with a bright red marker. Why do we find the need to bend the lights and distort the images to really see the beauty within ourselves? Don't we realise that true beauty lies in our ability to love and cherish who we are? Let's all look in the mirror now and cite 5 things we like about our bodies! That should be our difficult task of the day.