With being online daily for work research purposes, I always stumble across articles whereby women are desperately striving for perfect physical beauty. Some even refer to it as “Instagram beauty”, which basically means trying to achieve an unrealistic look that looks ‘filter perfect’ in their everyday.
There are even ads on social media advertising various ways to enhance physical beauty from cheek and lip fillers, through to treatments that freeze and melt fat and cellulite away, along with hair extensions, waist trainers to slim your waist, through to celebrities who endorse and promote all of these things, then there’s thigh gap diets and exercises, through to make up contouring tutorials, and the list goes on and on.
Chasing beautiful lies
Every single day media encourages us to want to look a certain way, and to focus on external beauty, as opposed to looking after the heart and soul of who we are. Therefore, we subconsciously strive for physical beauty enhancement, and never feel content or comfortable in our skin. We want to look like something else, like an idea of what society or social media deems as beautiful. Which is actually really sad, as people are chasing after superficial surface level external beauty, instead of loving who they are inside, and out, flaws and all.
What’s even more sad, is that this lifestyle and way of living, becomes addictive, as it never truly satisfies. Therefore, we are constantly seeking out ways to look better, and never truly find happiness in the chasing after physical beauty.
Why?
Because chasing after physical beauty and perfection is surface level, it does not fill the heart and soul of who we are as unique individuals. What we should be chasing after are things that make our hearts and souls come alive, things or experiences that fill our hearts with love, kindness, and grace.
Chasing love
Let me pose this challenging thought:
What do you want to be known for, especially when you are no longer here:
Do you want people to remember you for looking pretty, and for looking Instagram beautiful?
OR
Do you want to remembered as someone who lavished love and kindness onto others, because love was your best feature?
The reality is that physical beauty fades, and we can’t prolong or avoid aging. Even if you had to go for operations that change your face or body to appear more youthful, you can still see the aging of a person come through.
Yes, we should endeavor to take care of our bodies as best as we can, and be mindful of eating and exercising well, and using products that nourish our skin. Which means we should age gracefully and naturally, and love and accept who we are as the years pass by. That will mean that we will constantly need to do heart checks, and make sure that our hearts are being fed by the right things.
We do not need to fall prey to what social media deems as beautiful, we should focus on inner beauty by loving who we are regardless of what we look like. Let’s chase after love, let’s chase after things that make our souls come alive and feel beautiful from within.
No amount of physical beauty will ever be as valuable as a beautiful heart.