Are you happy with the way you look?
If you can answer “yes” to this question, you’re a very lucky person. If your answer’s “no” – trust us, you’re not alone there – we’re about to let you in on how you can be. And this applies to men as well as women. No one is exempt from being conscious about their looks. People in the Arab world are especially vulnerable to this tendency as the prevalent types of beauty showcased in the media are usually quite far from how the average Arab person looks.
In today’s world, the media and especially social media are places where people show off their best – and sometimes filtered – selves to the world, hence putting a lot of pressure on all of us to look better. And what’s even more disturbing is that when we become convinced that we don’t look good enough, we’re told it can be fixed by spending money, whether it’s on healthy foods, gym memberships, cosmetics or even plastic surgery.
The problem is that even when we’ve made all the possible improvements, chances are we’ll still be unsatisfied with our looks. As a matter-of-fact, very good-looking people are even more worried about their looks than those who don’t make a living out of it. Indeed, many models feel bad for not looking as good as their photoshopped or snapchat-filtered self. And that’s the problem: the ideal man or woman that we wish to resemble simply doesn’t exist.
He or she cannot exist because the ideal man or woman doesn’t age a day over 17. Marketers use our fear of growing old – which is inevitable (and a privilege) – to sell their products and it’s easy to fall prey to their arguments. Anti-ageing products won’t prevent us from getting old and eventually dying, and they certainly won’t make us younger. They’ll just make us self-conscious about our lines and wrinkles, which are perfectly natural things.
If you’re feeling bad about the way you look, maybe what you should address is the feeling, not your actual physical appearance. And when you start to feel better about your looks, you’ll automatically start being kinder to your body instead of treating it like an enemy. Only by taking better care of yourself can you actually feel good in your own skin. One thing is sure: worrying about your body will not make you look any better.
You’re a perfectly imperfect human and you should be proud to look like one. And remember that people around you are too busy worrying about their own appearance to care about yours. Why do we worry so much about what others think of us? Another problem that Arab society needs to address.
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