Why Are We All Unhappy With Our Appearance? - Image, Quality Of Life

2023 Author: Oswald Adamson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 12:13

What do you see when you look in the mirror? Your perception of what your body and appearance looks like shapes the way you think about yourself. Interestingly, a 20-year-old fitness model in perfect shape can have a very negative opinion of herself, while a 50-year-old man or a woman of average shape can take every fold and not think about the fact that the body may be unattractive. Why are many of us unhappy with our appearance?

No matter how similar your real figure is to your perception, your body image can affect your self-esteem, eating and exercise behaviors, and relationships with others.

In European and American cultures, a lot of attention is paid to body weight, size and overall appearance. We are taught from a very early age to believe that self-worth stems from these external characteristics. For example, being thin and / or muscular is associated with hard work, success, popularity, beauty, strength, and self-discipline.

On the other hand, being “fat” and “ugly” is associated with laziness, ignorance, hatred, ugliness, weakness and lack of willpower. These stereotypes are common in our society; they are backed by the media, our family and friends, and even respected health professionals. As a result, we often judge others unfairly and label them based on their appearance alone. We feel intense anxiety and pressure when we struggle to get slimmer, use makeup to hide "flaws", and seek help from plastic surgeons.

Where do the standards come from?

The media are setting unrealistic standards for what weight and physical appearance are considered "normal." Girls at a very early age are taught that Barbie is how a woman should look (that is, there is no fat anywhere on the body, but there are huge breasts). If the Barbie were life-size, she would be 180 cm tall and weigh 50 kg. Her measurements would be 100-50-85 and she would not have menstruation due to the lack of fat on her body. The implausibility is reflected in her face, look only at the petite thin nose.

Likewise, boys have the impression that men naturally have muscles bulging throughout their bodies. Take a look at their action figures in toy stores. These body ideals are reinforced every day in TV shows, movies, magazine covers, and even video games. With these ideals of appearance, it is no surprise that men and women feel inadequate, ashamed and unhappy with their appearance.

With the emergence and entrenchment of social networks in our lives, the situation has become even sadder. We constantly look at profiles of beautiful people, admiring and experiencing anxiety about their appearance. We rarely take into account the fact that girls and guys with the perfect profile can use Photoshop, search only for good poses and edit their photos in every possible way. We are sure that there are a lot of beautiful, ideal people - after all, this is it, confirmation.

I often advise women with deep complexes to remove social media during therapy. This is a problem of all modern mankind, which must be dealt with, because you cannot be a happy and successful person when all your time is spent spying on the lives of strangers

Family, friends, and romantic partners all play an important role in accepting or rejecting ourselves. Even in adolescence, we can face serious problems. If you live in a dorm with other female students, the pressure can be even greater. In such situations of group living, you may be surrounded by negative conversations in the bathroom, in the dining room, in the dorm room … you can't get away from the comments ("Ugh! Look at my thighs … I'm so fat", "I have too thin lips, and my nose is out of proportion to my face at all!").

All these appearance-related comments can drive you crazy! They can make you worry about your appearance and make you feel self-conscious about your own body, even if you've never worried about it before. Your mother or other family member may have done the same as you were growing up, constantly commenting on your own weight (or yours) and imposing many dietary restrictions on yourself (or you). From the very beginning, you may have realized that you need to be thin in order for your parents to accept and love you.