Beauty Lies In The Eye Of The Beholder
Mental health and beauty are highly related because physical appearance is something that is on most people’s minds. Whether someone is beautiful, average or below average in physical appearance, it has an impact on their way of viewing themselves and those around them.
Beautiful people may unconsciously or consciously believe that they are better than others, or have an upper hand in certain situations. From the time since they were little, society has complimented their good looks, by providing them with opportunities that others were not granted.
By having good looks work to one’s advantage, beautiful people have learned how to maintain these opportunities in life. This does not mean that all beautiful people are stuck-up or believe that they are better than others. But this is an example of how beauty impacts mental health.
On the other end of the spectrum, unattractive people may have been made fun of since a young age. They quickly realized that society did not appreciate their unattractiveness, and labeled them as “ugly.” By having this word thrown at them since a young age, it gave room for insecurity, depression or anxiety to flourish.
In reality, the physical appearance of someone else lies in the eye of the beholder; the person who is observing gets to decide what is beautiful. What needs to change in our society is less emphasis on glamour and external beauty, and more care for the individual as a person!
By putting aside the importance of beauty and status that Hollywood and the entertainment industry throw at us, we will be able to focus more on what should be more important to the human race:
- Personality traits
- The care and comfort for another individual
- Helping each other
- Sharing mental health stories and symptoms of concern
- Building fruitful relationships and friendships
. . . and the list goes on. Beauty is subjective, because what may be beautiful on the outside for one person, may be unattractive on the inside for another. But if we change the way we view others, by focusing more on the actual interaction among us, we will more effectively help alleviate insecurity, selfishness, excessive worrying, anxiety, substance abuse, and depression.
Are you Ready? (This is Defeating Stigma Mindfully)
DSM (Defeating Stigma Mindfully) 