Taking Care Of Your Physical Appearance Is Not Superficial, It Is A Sign Of Mental Health

It is not uncommon that one's high interest in aesthetics and care of one's physical appearance is considered as a superficial attitude.

This indicates great ignorance, since taking care of your body - when it doesn't become an obsession - means taking care of your well-being in a holistic way.

In order to be comfortable with ourselves, it is useful to feel good also on the outside, not only inside. The relationship with our body can mark a before and after in our life: feeling beautiful / good as we are is a sign of a good mental health. Worrying about our hygiene, the fragrance or the harmony and beauty of our body is not a sign of superficiality: it indicates that we love ourselves.

​Aesthetics and personal care are our allies
It has happened to a lot of people that "a big change in life corresponds to a change of personal image". Have you ever experienced it? It is a popular and banal saying, yet it hides some truth. Sometimes people feel they need a radical change, but they don't know how to achieve it. They lack the inspiration and the means or perhaps the will.

It is for this reason that a change at an aesthetic level can give rise to the inspiration and the push to change the course with one's decisions or one's routine. This is a well-known theory within the oncology department of many hospitals: common practice, in fact, provides patients with cosmetic services to support them and help them counteract the effects of chemotherapy.

​Caring for your physical appearance as a cancer treatment
Nowadays it is normal to think that health is the most important thing and that those who have cancer should focus above all on a standard cure for the disease. However, one would wonder if anyone who deals with these topics has ever lived such an experience, if he knows the true meaning of health in its most global sense. If you know what it means for a woman to face a mastectomy  or for any person to suddenly lose all their hair, eyelashes or witness the yellowing of her skin.

​Although it is good not to take a stand against an approach based on the treatment of the physical symptoms of the disease, it is right to know that each individual lives in a different way with the aesthetic changes that the disease brings. This is why some naturally show the effects of the disease without trying to hide them, while others consider it normal to mitigate these effects by resorting to various techniques so that their physical appearance does not reveal the arduous battle in which they are involved. They are two different ways of dealing with the disease.
​There is a great inspirational story  regarding this issue. It was 1988 when Dr. Michael Brinkenhoff's wife, Gayle, was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. For the duration of this complex physical and emotional process, Michael's only desire was to help Gayle see and feel better.
As a result, in 2006 he created a brand of innovative cosmetics designed for women with cancer, so that these women would get their lashes and eyebrows back. It is nothing more than an example of how aesthetics is not only a cold and superficial matter, but, on the contrary, can become the reflection of the struggle and the desire to go on.

​Loss of interest in your physical appearance is not a good sign
There is a strong link between neglecting one's physical appearance and the severity of some psychopathological disorders. Just think that one of the indicators of the worsening of the psychological state of many people is the abandonment of the care of the physical aspect.
During depression, it is normal for a general loss of interest in activities that were previously considered pleasant to occur. It is anhedonia towards some aspects of life, as well as the inability to enjoy it or to find stimuli. It is no wonder that the ability to look in the mirror and see yourself as beautiful is not part of the attitude of depressed people.

It is not about the time that an individual can spend to treat his skin or image. It's about the pleasure of seeing and feeling good, regardless of whether you use make-up or not. Whoever loses interest in life also loses their towards himself / herself.

The difference between considering aesthetics as an imposition or a source of benefit
Your body will benefit from the care it receives from you and will be grateful to you, provided that the care comes from your desire and not from an imposition. As in most cases, the line between pathology and normality is very thin. The choice to consider the care of your physical appearance a priority is absolutely respectable, even healthy. On the contrary, being in a state of anxiety and pressure because you do not fall into a certain model of perfection, and trying to do everything possible to achieve it, can lead to harmful consequences.

Some people can compulsively invest huge amounts of money and feel that they have never reached the level of perfection required by others. There are those who get to measure their value as a person according to their weight and appearance, definitely going beyond that fine line. This turns into pathology.

Dysmorphobia is the psychological disorder which makes an individual unable to carry on a normal life due to a real or imagined physical defect. The person spends countless hours examining their physical appearance and can decide to undergo an infinite series of treatments and surgeries without ever feeling completely satisfied. It is a pathology that is constantly on the increase and has an increasingly powerful influence of advertising and the Internet.
The most important thing in order to be able to feel good in your skin is never to take an external model as a reference. Start from your image, visualize your body without prejudice and go to the discovery of the parts of it that you want to improve based on how you feel day by day.
Sometimes it will be a matter of improving what we see, other times of acting on the relationship between us and what we see. Always remember, body and mind are one, even in their mirror version. Do not suffer because you would like to see a better reflection, and remember that the smile is always a perfect "accessory" and ally to improve yourself.