"The Aesthetic Trap: Why We’re Obsessed with Making Everything Look ‘Perfect’"

In todays world social media play a very influential role in everyone’s life, we are  constantly surrounded by curated perfection and as be talk about perfection the first think come to our mind is having a Pinteresty life that come with a lot of pressure,  the pressure to have a Pinterest-worthy room, a perfectly curated Instagram feed, or aesthetic study notes ,or having a desi core wardrobe or anything that looks pretty but can only happen in reel life and not  in real life. There is a major difference in what we see on social media and what is behind that but its somehow very difficult to differentiate between that because we tend to believe what we see. it's clear that we’ve fallen into an aesthetic trap. But why are we so obsessed with making everything look perfect? 

  The Rise of Visual Culture: 

Don’t you think the idea of making everything look perfect and pinteresty has been fuelled by the social media platforms like Instagram and other, mostly everyone is on social media and the influence of being aesthetic is also from these platforms only and we spend our most of the time on scrolling through reels and other contents. Its looks like that everyone is running a race to be like “ohh look I have much better and perfect life more than you”, we want us as picture perfect but why do we need that, do we really need that kind of life where you feel pressurized to look perfect in everything you do , why cant we just be perfect by  just being imperfect, what will happen if we showed up some of our flaws also. why we have needs to fit a certain standard of beauty.

There social media platforms have turned visual appeal into an art form, where every post, picture, and video need to fit a certain standard of beauty. The more perfect our surrounding look the more validation we seek but do we need such validations where we are not what we are , social media platforms like Instagram , TikTok , Pinterest are only for you entertainment purpose or where you can connect to people but from when it became to hold such important place in our life as whatever we do we do to have  perfect  appearance on social media , like we forgot what are actual life is , I think a major reality check is necessary that everything is temporary what you are in your own eyes is  more important rather than what and  how others wants to perceive you. The likes and comments and shares cannot decide that you are perfect or not, you don’t need these kinds of validations in your life but The validation creates a feedback loop, pushing us to pursue even more visually appealing content. But you think you want this temporary kind of validations in your life but the validation you need is from yourself not from others.

A Desire for Control: 

At the heart of the aesthetic obsession is a deep-seated need for control. In this dynamic world curating our life , home and even our personal appearance gives us a sense of power and sense of control or a missing part of our life that we are finding in ourselves at some point somewhere that we fill it from making our life look perfect on social media, is it required to post everything on social media to make believe that I have a perfect life and shattering from inside from thoughts in our mind that I am not perfect like others have. Creating a perfectly styled room or posting a flawless photo online feels like we’ve mastered our environment. But this illusion of control can lead to anxiety when perfection becomes the expectation. And then it try to affect your mental health and peace. There is no fun in perfection, you should focus more on your positive traits rather than negatives but it is human tendency to focus more on you negative side than your actual positive traits.

The Impact on Mental Health: 

The influence of having an aesthetic life looks harmless but it’s not true it can lead to affect your mental health that some point at your life. The pressure to present an idealized version of life can cause feelings of inadequacy. This make you feel that you are not enough or not good enough, it lead to low self esteem and confidence in one when you reel life collides or not look align with your real life ,it is very very important to have a clarity in you mind that what you see online is not true and no one have a perfect life ,everyone has some problems in their life it not possible to have a problem free life. The constant comparison can lead to breakout and can affect your mental health , every time you have to make your life look perfect in front of social media , the feeling of being judged is where we seek validations and all its not required because it is human behaviour to judge or gossips they can gossips about everything and anything that is unnecessary like you have “Mohale ki aunties’.

Escaping the Trap:

Breaking free from the aesthetic trap doesn't mean rejecting beauty it never was it all about being real to the world and It also means accepting that perfection is an illusion, and not everyone needs to be fit in that illusion. The key is to embrace imperfection, your flaws and focus on your positive side and authenticity rather than appearances on social media. Real, unfiltered moments often hold more beauty than anything staged or perfect or having aesthetic life. By that you can connect to more people by relating to them.

It’s important to remember that life, and everything in it, doesn’t need to be perfect to be meaningful or enjoyable. Sometimes, it’s the imperfection that makes life truly beautiful and worth living. One should embrace their imperfection. 

This article is authored by Charul Shekhawat. She was among the Top 40 performers in the Corporate Law Quiz Competition organized by Lets Learn Law.