Unlearning Insecurities

It took me a lot of courage to write what you’re about to read right now; as it throws light on one of the biggest insecurities that I’ve had since childhood. But I thought that this was something that needed to be shared and talked about, because we’ve all been through this in one way or the other and have been affected by it at some point in our lives.

There have been multiple instances where people, including my friends, family, relatives, cousins or even acquaintances, have commented on my acne, thin hair, bald spot or belly. Be it unintentional jokes, unsolicited advice or taunts, the remarks on my looks and body have affected me at a psychological level since I was a school-going girl, occasionally leading to emotional outbursts and breakdowns; taking a toll on my self-confidence and self-esteem.

No matter how much I try to forget these comments, they tend to come back to me again and again, with more and more people adding on to them. “Are you undergoing a treatment for acne”, “You’ve got so many pimples! Is this a reaction to something?”, “You’ve got such thin hair with so less volume”, “You’ve put on weight, haven’t you?”… Constantly hearing judgemental statements such as these has always been making me so self-conscious about my appearance in whatever I do, whenever I speak and wherever I go.

Although the awareness about effects of appearance and body shaming is increasing day by day, it’s not enough. I feel that sometimes people just don’t realise how harshly this might affect someone and for how long this might stay with them. They say that the jokes are all in good humour or that they are just concerned and are thus sharing their opinions and advices, but only those who are at the receiving end of it know how frequently they have to deal with such unsought commentary every single day.

Despite making conscious efforts to not let someone else’s view determine my sense of beauty, I cannot help but succumb to it sometimes. But that does not stop me from trying. I believe that there are always going to be people who point out your “imperfections”, but you need to remind yourself time and again that their opinions simply do not matter, because they are just focusing on what you look like, and not what you are or what you do.

We are all insecure about something or the other, and most of the times it’s because people make us think that we should be insecure about it, by mocking us or by trying to give us remedies to look better. But try not to let people’s judgements make you insecure about anything. I know it’s easier said than done. So, here’s another thing you can do – try not to be that person; a person who points out or jokes about certain aspects of someone’s appearance. There are already many people who do that. So, the least you could do is to not be one of them, isn’t it?

-Khushi Goyal

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