Appreciating the outer self

I feel so intensely the delights of shutting oneself up in a little world of one’s own, with pictures and music and everything beautiful. – Virginia Woolf

Don’t judge the book by its cover is probably one of the most overshared phrases yet sometimes, it can be hypocritical too. You’ve probably heard that some research findings indeed suggest that the first thing which catches the eyes of our species is physical attractiveness. Yeah, yeah, I know, inner beauty matters more than what we see on the outside. But let’s just be honest for a second. We like it if we look good, decent, clean and pretty.

There are of course unreasonable expectations in the age of social media about beauty standards irrespective of gender. That’s where the movements such as body positivity, self love, body acceptance come into place. They are there not to undermine the importance physical attractiveness but to eliminate those ludicrous expectations.

For me, appreciating how I look on the outside, wearing nice clothes, putting some make up on, being photographed nicely are healing tools for my mental health issues. Often, as mental health survivors, we struggle with our self-worth – we tend to inflate our flaws and deflate our strengths. To see how I look in pictures for me has given me a sense of gratefulness of what my face and body look like.

And it is perfectly okay to show our beauty to the world, just like any form of art.

I had a history of self-harm in the past – well the scars have mostly disappeared from my body. But being photographed somehow is an unconventional way for me to not cave in to those harmful temptations (anyway, I haven’t done so since last year).

After all, we are simply beautiful. And it is perfectly okay to show our beauty to the world, just like any form of art. To thank the universe for such blessing to be just the way we are.