Perception--Zeena

 

With access to any and every type of information at our fingertips, true or false, our sense of reality becomes increasingly altered. Opinions and emotions are easily influenced by others and almost seem to be out of our control. Technology brings us this lack of mindfulness since we are fed a plethora of thoughts and opinions that are not our own. We lose ourselves in the depths of the unrealistic standards that we subject ourselves to. This brings me to define what the word perception means to me and how it has affected my outlook on life. Our perception of not only others but ourselves becomes difficult to rationalize because of what we are expected to think. 

Perception and self-image are ideas that nearly everyone has an issue with, and no one genuinely tries to do something about it. Perception can consume an individual and strip them of any of their unique qualities because of their fear of rejection. People can create this “self-love” narrative and how everyone should love every part of themselves and be confident in themselves, but not only is this extremely unrealistic, it is almost impossible. Trying to convince yourself that you like something that you do not is extremely difficult, so trying to solve the depth of self-hatred, with a quick self-love pep talk, will not be effective in advancing your self-image. For many people, the issue is not within themselves, it is the fear of how they are seen by others. For example, when I was in middle school, I was extremely self-conscious about my looks and it upset me to look in the mirror and not like what I saw. This was mainly because I was not getting the attention that wanted which led me to compare myself to those who were getting that attention. This led me to only hate within myself, but towards those that I wanted to be. I enabled this behavior by allowing myself to be upset or cry about my insecurities, knowing that nothing would change. Even though I knew this was very damaging to myself, knowing that other people were self-conscious made me feel okay with these negative feelings. A study done at the University of Michigan Health showed that two-thirds of parents state their child is selfconscious about this appearance. This large amount of insecure people makes others feel that it is normal and relatable to be self-deprecating. That is the reason why I made it my goal to never cry about the way I looked, and ever since then, my self-image has increasingly improved. It is not about self-love or confidence because with that, is the search for validation from people, and once that is not received, that “confidence” is vanished. Acceptance and a positive understanding of individuality are what ultimately lead you to a better outlook on yourself. Giving your appearance such a high value is detrimental to your well-being and will ruin your perspective of yourself. Everybody immensely worries about how they are perceived, that they cannot properly live their own life. The fear of being judged or embarrassed ruins your ability to navigate through life the way you want to. Many people do not realize that they are being controlled by the judgment of others and are unable to analyze situations and ideas through their own eyes due to the fear of being shut down. Fabrication is overly normalized in our society, and its effects are irreversible if you are not mindful of it. 

Perception is an idea that is difficult to understand but once you do, it will significantly improve your life. Breaking the unhealthy habits of self-hatred is not easy, but it’s a process that can be done with mindfulness and a change of perspective. Stepping out of your head and having a simple understanding of the unimportance of appearance will ultimately better your life and allow you to live to your fullest potential. The normalization of accepting these unrealistic expectations that are held against us is very damaging if you aren’t able to recognize them. This is why acknowledging these ridiculous expectations is very important to rebuild your self-worth and create a rational perception of yourself and the world around you.