Open-mindedness

My entire life I’ve been annoyed by the way I look, by the frizzy curls I naturally have and by the other completely insignificant details that made my life awful, while others wouldn’t even notice them.

As I grew older and started meeting people from different backgrounds and with different mindsets, I started understanding that I should be more laid back and more pleased with who I am, though I never truly liked myself and always strived to change it.

I’m guessing that some parts of it have been embedded in my mind by the society I was raised in and cannot be as easily removed. It is a sad society, where the “perfect shape” is so coveted and so many people fall into a trap with no return, but it is, nevertheless, a much more productive one.

This type of society brings competition to the table: competing to look the prettiest, competing to be the smartest, competing to be the best. It motivates you and it helps sift the best from the average.

Coming back to the self-image issue, there’s something I noticed since I first arrived in the United Kingdom and it’s been bothering me. A lot.

This idea of “everyone is beautiful” and “everyone can do it” is sincerely bothering me, mostly because, at its roots, it’s the global equality desire everyone strives to obtain misshaped to please the majority.

But to see a 19 year-old girl taking up 3 bus seats and having, at the same time, the necessity of wearing see-through leggings is simply appalling! And before anyone comes with the “maybe she’s having hormone issues” reasoning, let me just clear that as long as you have a problem with your weight, especially not being your fault, you will not spend your free time munching on king size McDonald’s menus.

But this type of society tells her she’s pretty no matter what.

Flash news. She’s not!

On a more sensitive note, which will probably bring me tons of hate (yes, strong word), some people with special needs develop this self-entitlement that just doesn’t suit them. I understand their sorrow and I am sorry for them, but having a problem shouldn’t make you develop a worse personality. On the contrary, it should make you more understanding.

This comes in response to a little incident while I was on trip and had been waiting, with my 30 kg bags, to get the elevator from the 5th floor. When it finally happened, I was stopped at a 1st floor by a girl in a wheelchair demanding me to get myself and all of bags out so she could go downstairs then and not wait an additional 2 minutes.

In the end, it all comes down to one as an individual. Why choose to be something people don’t like?