What Makes You, YOU?

Have you ever stopped to notice that there are advertisements literally everywhere you look nowadays? Get that new and improved facial cleansing formula! Or go try out the new performance enhancing sports gear! Buy this! Get that! Even if you continue to scroll down or look to the edges of your screen, you are bound to find some form of advertisement. New products continuously get released onto the market, and so no one is ever really ‘good enough,' right?

Or so that’s what they want us to think. Because we are constantly, and I mean constantly, being exposed to these ads, we are lead to believe that the only way for us to be good enough is to buy the latest jacket, rock the newest skaters and own the slickest phone on the market. But because there’s really no end to it, how can we possibly ever be ‘good enough’ in the eyes of society?Is there any way to keep up? The even worse part about it is that companies know how to get society wrapped around their finger. With a single word, they can alter the self acceptance of millions. By analyzing consumer habits and plastering desirable images on the big screen, narratives from such messages become exactly the kind of things that we long to consume.

On top of that, they tend to create an illusion. Scrips, music, bright lights and fancy technological edits turn an ordinary pair of shoes, bathing suit, or hair gel into a the most astounding, out-of-this-world product that must be bought. One is likely to become so caught up in chasing after the newest products that the most important things get ignored or entirely missed. It’s terrible how our self worth can become so easily influenced by advertiser messages. It can become quite dangerous, actually. What comes out onto the market is none of our control, and so at any moment our self esteem can go for a nose-dive. Why? Simply because we can’t afford the newest gadget. That's what we have so often been told. Instead of being taught to value our truest selves, the consumption of every new product has become an endless game of cat and mouse.

And what happens to these most important aspects of a person? Things like personality, being a good friend, showing the virtues; where did those all go? Did they get thrown onto a conveyor belt and assembled into the next leading hair product? It’s important for us as individuals to focus on developing these aspects of ourselves as supposed to putting our attention on our material possessions. The next time you see a company promising to ‘make you a better person,’ stop and consider whether or not that’s really true. In most cases, it’s not.

You are worthy enough, strong enough, and capable enough regardless of your possessions. You don’t need the newest all-in-one makeup kit to make yourself look beautiful, because you already are. The new ‘bootylicious’ yoga pants aren’t needed; you’re already rocking it! But don't stop just at the surface; continue the exciting exploration of who you truly are. To see who this is, look inside. All of the most beautiful aspects of you are right there. It’s your personality, your interests, and your weird little quirks that make you, you. You’re entirely unique; not just different by the jeans you wear or the perfume you use, but by the characteristics that you were born with, and have had all along. So the next time you see another misleading advertisement, just walk away, because you know that you truly already have everything. And that’s the existence of you.

It's Beautiful.

~Nicole Addison

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