The inspiration behind today’s post is yet another Instagram reel, but I am pleased to report that on this occasion, I do, in fact, possess said reel to share with all of you. I still feel badly I haven’t been able to come across the reel that inspired my post about Fluffy the cat.
The Instagram reel responsible for triggering an idea for today’s discussion can be viewed here. Posted by @beingandbecomingavi, the reel features a young woman chatting about how in current society, the notion of poor self-confidence is one that runs rampant and seems to be more prevalent than ever before. That is not to say that these issues failed to exist before now; I would wager they certainly did. The reasoning behind why poor self-confidence seems to be more common than not now as opposed to even 100 years ago is because of the undeniable presence of comparison, resulting from a perpetrator that might surprise you.
The woman in the reel explains how nowadays, we are obsessed with our own image as a collective society. Our appearance is tied to our identity, and whether we try to or not, we see our own reflections everywhere, and consistently throughout the day. Add this factor to the creation of social media platforms like Instagram which widely consists of self-portraits and images of ourselves with others, and comparison as the thief of joy has had ample opportunity to slither in and sow a disturbingly deep seed of insecurity. She furthermore acknowledges how throughout history, up until relatively recently, the concept of one’s reflection in itself was a foreign entity. The only occasions during which someone saw their own reflection, prior to the creation of mirrors in 1835, was in a body of water, and even then it was distorted and garbled.
Mirrors and other means to see our appearances have simultaneously become our biggest infatuation and demise. With them, we allow ourselves to critique each and every detail of our faces, despite the beauty of the recognition that our faces are the combination of countless loved ones we ourselves originated from.
Photo by Vince Fleming on Unsplash
ontheedgeofeverything 