The link below takes you to where I found this comparison image of an Instagram icon who was almost unrecognizable to her fans, in person. for how much photoshop she uses on her images. Using phot shop to doctor images can be a useful tool, but as this has grown into a type of epidemic, it shows an unhealthy perfectionist view of how people “should” look, according to so many in the fashion industry, as well as just everyday people. So many people slip into getting plastic surgery, injections, and so much more, only to feel regretful afterwards. This idea that we much all look like dolls, in this perfect, plastic, ideal shape is absolutely ridiculous and harmful. I have seen many females suffer from self-harm and bulimia as they, even already small females, felt they were not skinny enough or pretty enough. It is causing so much harm to males and females alike.
Human beings are each individual and have very different genes and DNA, even twins are not exactly the same. We were not meant to be exactly like anyone else. Though we each have our own experiences, traumas, or whatever, which make us feel certain ways about ourselves, or others, we are each beautiful and unique individuals an do believe nature is here to help us. We are apart of nature, we are nature. So when we try to make ourselves out to be something different, then we are moving further and further away from the center of our being, and the purpose of this life, which is to love ourselves and one another exactly as we are. Agape love, I believe it is called.
Saying all this might make me sound judgmental and critical, but I have also come out of a long journey of self-hate and self-destruction. I’ve used makeup to hide myself and try to be different and look different. I was not happy with myself. Now I rarely wear makeup, though still feel sadness from how long I was hiding. I still feel insecure at times, but I do the best that I can with what I have and that, I believe, is all we can do. Learn to value ourselves for who we are and help share that truth with others.
Photoshop is an extremely useful tool, but if it is used to deter people from seeing the value in who they are and how they look, then it can be a weapon of mass destruction. I very much value what I have learned from my (now many) years in this program, and hope to always use PS with good and honest intentions and respect for the greater good of humanity.
Instagram Icon Heavily Photoshop -Unrecognizable by fans in person
-M.
Healing Creations PNW 