Social media and self perception - Learning to accept the real you

[SapphireDragon]

Expanding on my previous post about appreciating your Gentile beauty I'd like to now address our perception of ourselves and the negative relationship of social media, filters, and self esteem.

Many people obsess over looks in today's society more than ever before. And it's not because of an icrease in self awareness but a lack there of.

Instead of being aware of our flaws, appreciating the good, and trying to fix the problems we have control over, we have started to ignore our true selves and started fantasizing over how we wish we looked. We started using filters and avatars modeled on how we wish we looked, living in a fantasy world of false expectations.

When we look at ourselves in the mirror we don't see us as we are. We see the negatives rather than the truth. We think no that's not me, I'm that guy or girl on Snapchat, not the person standing looking in the mirror. I'm that guy or girl on Facebook with the filters that hide my flaws, with all the likes and comments about how handsome or beautiful I am, etc. that's me, not this.

But that version is a lie, it's not really you. it's manufactured to hide your self esteem issues and give you an easy solution.

Most people want an easy way to hide their imperfections rather than a healthy and permanent one, they'd rather complain than try to work on themselves and create positive changes in their lives. They'll see these perfect people with their filters and then feel negative about themselves, they'll then feel like they're never going to be perfect or pretty or fit, and this may drive them into using filters too because they feel ashamed of themselves, and rather than trying to focus on the long-term of what they can do to help themselves they'll seek an escape because it seems easier.

Things like filters are a bandaid to slap over their problems. But this wound will not heal, it will only get deeper until it's caused a total disconnect with yourself, altering your perception from reality.

It's easy to hide behind it because we can live a life of what we wish we could be, and no one outside of our circle is any the wiser.

Filters should be used for fun and silly things, not as a mask to hide yourself. This logic of pretending to be someone else causes a kind of body dysphoria to where people start to become obsessed with doctoring up every photo they can to look perfect.


People who lack self esteem already use filters as a crutch to fill their needs to feel good about themselves because they don't know how to feel good about themselves outside of social media.

They'll post pictures with filters for likes and comments because it makes them feel good. They need constant reassurance from other people to feel validation. But it's not really them that these people are commenting about, but the false self that they've ceated to escape from reality with.

If you live life hiding from yourself you'll never be able to appreciate yourself or work on changing the things we can control to live a healthy and happy life.

You are not a filter, an avatar, a cartoon. You are a person and you will never be what a filter makes you look like.

For example,

You don't need to feel good from a false high of instant gratification from a filter hiding your acne, you can feel good practicing better hygiene and skin care to stop it in the first place.

You don't need a filter to make you thin, and hide your double chin. You can lose your weight and feel better about yourself and not have to hide or be ashamed when people meet you and notice you're not the same as your profile picture.

Even through your rose colored glasses of social media and how you see yourself, other people out in public still see you for who you are. This is the version of yourself you must focus on. The real you.


In Satanism we learn to do things for ourselves, we learn the truth, freedom from slave mentality, and we learn how to not be a victim. We should apply this same logic and behavior to our self perception and start practicing healthy self esteem that is grounded in reality.

Work on yourself, work with who you are and what you've got, don't compare yourself to brushed up and filtered Instagram models, and don't hide behind the filters.


appreciate you for who you are and embrace yourself.


Hail Satan!!

 

[Shadowcat]

This is great advice for people who are having a hard time with any perceived flaws. If something is actually there do what you can to fix it, don't cover it up, because the real you will be satisfied in the end with you doing what you can. Putting a bandaid on something does not make it go away, and so the feelings any flaws may cause one to feel about themselves will remain.

There are on the other hand also things seen as flaws that are not always so imperfect. These are the subjective things that one may find alluring while another may not, and this depends on many things. Unless they are an objective cosmetic issue or a detriment to your health leave them be.

I was at a point till recently where I wanted to go to the extent to have surgery on my voice to make it match my body more, with me being female and having such a deep voice. I have berated myself for certain bodily features and other things for the longest time until a point to where I realized I was trying to be something that I am not...(due to hopes of pleasing others that I thought I was supposed to be able to.) ....something that others wanted that I just don't have. It made me feel worthless down to the deepest level for a long time and like a failure. It has also made me realize this very well probably caused me to attract the wrong people which is part of why so many prospects and one long-term relationship failed. I realize now we were probably simply incompatible on a soul level. I think the polarities of our energies clashed.

This eventually led up to a recent form of self-realization that scared me so much that I tried overthinking it and even thought to interpret some things that weren't there. It's very unsettling if this happens so I had to take some time to ground myself and think about things rationally. I honestly felt like an idiot but I nonetheless touched upon some information regarding self-awareness and self-acceptance.

A lot of the things I perceived as flaws were not, and not just physically. They are manifestations of my soul and I finally accept them and am hoping to move forward while finally having these mountains of obstacles out of the way that caused so much self-berating and depreciation.