Self-respect is one of the most positive attributes any person can own. However, through my own personal experience self-respect is something that can be knocked down and shattered into a million pieces in one instance by the most minuscule of occurrences. Self-respect is defined as, ‘a proper sense of one’s own dignity and integrity,’ although I believe that self-respect manifests itself not only through an internal measure but also an external.
For example, it is the norm for people to aspire to act like others, to look like other people or to adopt similar lifestyle or traits of another individual, this is an external act of lowering our self-respect. An extreme example of this act is the lip challenge, in which many young adults indulged in to get voluminous lips like Kylie Jenner. This painful trend exploited youngsters to sucking on a glass to increase the swelling of their lips to gain a puffy pout, similar to that of Kylie Jenner’s, ‘completely real’ perfect mouth. By aspiring to be like Kylie, individuals believed it was acceptable to go through this much preparation and pain that the swelling lasted for days, no one should need to go through that much agony to look like anyone. It is apparent that young adults do not feel good enough in their own skin, and this is not only a female trend.
The Only Way is Essex has become a major trend recently, especially in relation to young males. The quiff exploited by Joey Essex has became increasingly popular this year with young men who want to incorporate the quiff and the lad like identity. Its evident that it is not just young ladies who are not comfortable in their own skin and aspire to look like someone else.
However, it is clear to see that those who we aspire to act or look similar to have common attributes, they are either famous at this point in time, have a lot of money or are aesthetically pleasing. These common attributes do not lead the path to happiness, this is a common misconception. By following these celebrities, as individuals we are diminishing our own self-respect and happiness by aspiring to be like someone, which is an impossible task. We are our own person and we should celebrate ourselves as unique individuals not as robots trying to incorporate someone else’s trends.