Are we for Real?

How can life pass me by so quickly? I can barely remember when my children were babies. I can barely remember being a young adult and how I felt about my looks. Women, in my humble opinion, have a rough time proving they are worthy and beautiful especially with all of the unrealistic shows on television showing a false sense of beauty and success. I've seen it with my friends-this need to stay young to be competitive in today's world for a sense of self worth and to compete with young women especially in the business field.

Now that plastic surgery is somewhat affordable, the pressure is on to be perfect even more so than before. It used to be almost impossible for women to afford surgery unless they were wealthy; this isn't the case any longer. Women look for flaws in themselves and other women thinking, why not? If I can afford it, what does this hurt? In some women, it probably helps more than it hurts, but we need to be careful we aren't looking for false security in our looks. God made us all beautiful in some way. Of course there is a place for plastic surgery, and I feel there are times that women should have this done, but where do we draw the line? When will we be pretty or young enough? When will enough be enough? Does society dictate this for us? Is it from watching too many television shows and glossy magazine covers of beautiful women? Why aren't we happy and satisfied with who we are? What do we need to prove? Do we feel better when we don't have wrinkles any longer? Are we looking for a false sense of being young even though we are aging, whether we like it or not? I seem to fall victim to this myself at times when looking at other women who are prettier and who seem perfect. This is such a false illusion.

I think there must be a drawback to everything that sounds and looks this good. I'm not sure of the health risks to all of this, but I’m focusing on the emotional issues involved. I’m most concerned about this illusion as it relates to our young women-the next generation of women. My daughter nineteen-year-old is beautiful and thin, but finds fault with her body every day. She seems to be under this same spell. But, it’s not only the young who are experiencing self doubt. I must confess after my girlfriend had a face lift, thinking to myself, I wonder if she'll focus on my wrinkles and think I'm not as pretty somehow. I also wonder how I'll feel as I continue to age when many women around me are getting surgery after surgery done. Will I be the only women not making any changes-society will think I’m old and ugly for sure! This is something I think about. I hate to admit it, but I do. I don't feel much pressure now, but I'm still under 40. I feel good about my overall person, but I have those days…

My major concern is why we feel we need to change our looks in the first place. We were taught by our parents that beauty is skin deep-beauty is in the eye of the beholder and beauty is found from within. Why has our society gone away from this? What do women base good self esteem on-how perfect our body's look like, how big our breasts are, how many wrinkles we have? I see it only getting worse when more and more young women are having work done trying to please society's view on what makes a successful and beautiful woman.

Where does it end? When will we be satisfied and truly be at peace with ourselves?

What do you think??