Are you obsessed with yourself?
How to tell if you think about your looks TOO MUCH!
By Maggie Gusman
It would be a lie to say that looks don't count in our society, but is it possible for a person to be too obsessed with her looks? You bet! We've learned to judge with our eyes instead of our hearts and minds, so we spend huge amounts of time and money on endless exercising, mountains of makeup, and closets of clothes.
But how necessary is all that stuff? Unless you're planning on becoming a supermodel, not very. In the end, we are our own worst critics-- and that's the supreme irony of all this obsessing. Everybody is so worried about how they look that they don't even notice anyone else's appearance!
We have become so obsessed with looks that we drive ourselves and each other into eating disorders, depression, and low self-esteem-- just to name a few problems.
Check out Girl Zone's Inside Out feature for more on enjoying and celebrating the way you look!
If focusing on exteriors just meant that we waste a little time and money every day on frivolous stuff, then this unhealthy "fashionation" would be be inconvenient and annoying at most. Unfortunately, though, we have become so obsessed with looks that we drive ourselves and each other into eating disorders, depression, and low self esteem--just to name a few problems.
Basically, a healthy self-image comes down to whether or not you like yourself. This isn't an easy question, and the answer may even change from day to day, but ultimately, you have to learn to like who you are dressed up, dressed down, in the best shape of your life, makeup-free, or with a big zit right on the end of your nose. This doesn't mean that you should throw out the lipstick and hairspray or sweats and baseball caps, but that you should be dressing and looking the way you do because it is who you really are. Taking pride in your appearance is healthy and normal, but it should always be done on your terms.
NOTE: Girl Zone would like to thank Jonni Kincher for some of the ideas we found in her books Psychology for Kids and Psychology for Kids II, published by Free Spirit Publishing. We would also like to thank Louis Janda for his book The Psychologist's Book of Self-Tests, which helped us come up with the nuts and bolts of our quiz.
