Is Mother Nature truly never wrong?

For as long as I can remember, objects located far away from me have always been slightly blurred. I am short-sighted, and I also have astigmatism in one eye. When I was in the fourth grade of primary school, the family optician prescribed me corrective glasses. Since high school, I started wearing them alternately with contact lenses. In the near future, I plan to have laser correction. Of course, my main goal is good eyesight - but I do not hide the fact that I do not like my face with glasses, I prefer it without them. Contact lenses, on the other hand, are a solution that is not very economical, not very ecological and not very comfortable.

I also drew a slightly crooked bite from the gene pool. The orthodontist said that in this case, braces are not a requirement, because it has no effect on my health. Of course, she can put them on me, but the correction would be purely visual. Together with my mother, we decided that there was no need for it. Today, more than fifteen years later, I do not regret this decision. For some reason, the arrangement of my teeth has never kept me awake at night, even in my teenage years, when the attractiveness of almost every part of the body was questioned.

In addition, I have an aquiline nose. I don't like it, it's one of my biggest complexes, but at the same time I can't have any reservations about its functioning. I try not to show my profile in photos. I think that if I had a straighter nose, I would be prettier. For various reasons, I will probably never decide to have surgery, but I understand people who have made a different decision. I hope they look at their reflections in the mirror with a smile.

In each of these cases, I am guided not only by health, finances or comfort, but also by taste. And our taste does not always go hand in hand with a natural look.

It is not true that Mother Nature is never wrong.

Not all of us are born healthy, not every body functions properly from the start. There are just so many diseases, so many dysfunctions, so many limitations, the existence of which contradicts the infallibility of nature, that it is difficult to assume that in terms of beauty, all of our features have been perfectly matched.

Self-acceptance and taste

Self-acceptance encompasses the whole – both strengths and weaknesses. It is not synonymous with self-admiration, it does not exclude objective assessment or work on oneself. Instead, it allows one to come to terms with the lack of certain predispositions (not only physical) and encourages one to rearrange priorities. It helps one live in harmony with oneself, one’s beliefs, needs and preferences.

Psst! Also check out our article "How does body image affect your sexual enjoyment?"

So much comes down to taste. I can be a natural blonde, but I can also want to dye myself red. I can put on makeup every day, but I can also like my face sautéed . I can shave , but I can also "grow my gardens ." All of these choices don't have to be dictated by hatred of my own physiognomy, but only by specific preferences (to what extent these preferences are mine and to what extent they have been instilled in me by society is a topic for another discussion).

In addition to taste, I can also be guided by the desire to match the outer shell to my identity. To create an image that is consistent with my character and current state of mind.

Self-acceptance is not synonymous with humble acceptance of everything that nature has given us. Self-acceptance is, above all, respect for yourself and your body. If a given change improves my quality of life, I want it and it is good for me, by introducing it, I do not act against myself, on the contrary - I act for my own benefit.

Appearance doesn't matter?

I am a big enough girl to know that the concept of beauty is too vague, too relative to base self-esteem solely on appearance. At the same time, I would be very naive (and dishonest) to say that appearance does not matter at all.

Of course it does. Of course most of us want to please – ourselves and others. To mock that need is immature and hypocritical.

Here I will give an example of sports. We do them because we want to take care of our fitness, strength and general mobility. Maybe our doctor recommended it, maybe we enjoy physical activity or maybe we like the endorphins that are released during exercise. However, we can also do sports because we want to lose weight or shape certain parts of our body in a certain way. There is nothing wrong with this type of motivation. After all, it is similar to the motivation that makes us dye our hair, put on make-up, straighten our teeth or enlarge our lips.

There is nothing wrong with changing your natural appearance to suit your personal preferences. It's your body and your choice. We don't have to explain ourselves to anyone, nor do we have to inform anyone that we've had them done. In fact, I can imagine that in certain circumstances, if asked directly, we could lie, having our reasons for doing so.

From my perspective, however, the situation changes when it comes to public figures.

Lemon water and nose correction

Some time ago I came across a thread on the internet about plastic surgery and procedures among celebrities. Procedures as procedures, they were not the ones that piqued my interest.

It turned out that many celebrities* deny that they have ever used the services of plastic surgery clinics and aesthetic medicine, explaining noticeable changes in their appearance with training and diet. Meanwhile, we look at photos from the "before and after" series and... well. You don't have to be an expert on the subject to be aware that no amount of physical exercise and no amount of lemon water drunk on an empty stomach will remove a drooping eyelid or straighten a nose.

Okay, but why does it really bother me? Celebrity life is not my area of ​​interest, quite the opposite. I don't know how many Kardashians there are, I don't remember their names, I can't recall any of their faces. Besides - doesn't each of us, including public figures - have the right to privacy?

Well, it moves me because the right to privacy is one thing, and deliberately misleading is another. It moves me because I think that such blatant lying to one's (often very young) fans is extremely harmful, it fuels the already rampant spiral of hatred towards the body. A body that objectively has no chance of meeting the requirements imposed by culture. I honestly do not understand the purpose of such behavior.

A celebrity's body is no different than mine or yours. It operates on the same exact principles and struggles with the same unrealistic social expectations.

I'm not saying that a given celebrity doesn't eat right and sweat it out in the gym. They definitely do. However, I don't believe that their current face and figure are the result of the work of personal trainers, dietitians, and makeup artists alone. No, they aren't. It's also the work of plastic surgeons and computer graphic designers. And that's fine.

* Celebrities probably too, but this particular thread concerned only the female gender.

But why hide it?

We live in the 21st century. Plastic surgery clinics exist, and their offers are richer than ever. Filters that change facial features or slim the body are also widely available. They can be applied to photos and videos. Additionally, if we only have a sufficient budget, we have a number of cosmetic and hairdressing services based on the latest technologies at our disposal. These are simply the facts. It is our choice whether and which of these options we will use.

There is no shame in changing your natural appearance , nor is there shame in sticking with what Mother Nature has given you. It is a matter of choice, a matter of taste. Falsifying the truth – especially in the case of public figures – is not only pointless, but also simply unfair to society, to the people who made them famous and rich. We all struggle with enough pressure from the myth of beauty, which has hardened into stone over the years. Together, we should be breaking it down, not strengthening it.