Some of us may feel a little uneasy with this title. Perhaps this is due to the connection between these two topics. There's an implied notion that people who have had plastic surgery done, for aesthetic reasons, have done so because they don't love themselves enough.
The statistical legitimacy of this notion isn't as relevant to an individual as exploring its potential for truth. We do this by utilizing this notion as a tool for individual questioning. An example of this would be,
"If there is any truth to this notion, does it mean i don't love myself enough?"
"Are the people who forgo any augmentation more secure in themselves? Do they love themselves more than i love myself?"
There are many more questions that can be asked, but exploring a few like these can lead to the exploration of a series of other questions. Sometimes during this process we are fortunate enough to be presented with an answer or answers, and sometimes we aren't so fortunate. At the very least a light will have been shun, expanding the self awareness for those that choose to question.
Self-Love, our individual balance of it, our relationship to it, and the highs and lows that accompany our experience of it, are part and parcel of every human journey. Although we each express this balance through our behaviour differently, it isn't something that is being experienced solely by the individuals who undergo plastic surgery or any kind of physical augmentation for the sake of enhancing their beauty. It's safe to say many people, from many walks of life, experience a lack of self love in one way or another. I would even go as far as saying that probably all people I have met in my lifetime have experienced it, myself included. And I have thought about doing some of the ‘work’ myself.
Perhaps self-love is expressed differently by each individual because we each have a different set of life experiences. How those experiences have shaped our relationship with ourself doesn't need to reside as information forever stored in the darkness of our unconscious mind. It can be made visible, by putting to question the notions of reality that can make individuals feel uneasy. But coming face to face with the uneasy is what allows us to go deeper into the subconscious. After all, we push into the subconscious the thoughts we don’t want to think, and feelings we don’t want to feel. If it makes you uncomfortable, good. It means we are going deeper into the shadow aspect of ourselves and the only way to resolve is to get to know it better.
I’m still questioning this ‘implied’ relationship. And I think I will do so until the end of my days. I’ve realized that my own notion of beauty at times changes with the society’s notion of what beauty is. I cannot keep up with it. I guess the question is “why do I feel like I need to?”
