Reinventing Yourself?
"WHO ARE YOU?" - The Caterpillar to Alice...
Reinvention is a funny word right? I mean, by it's very definition it's "un-invent" something then "invent it" again!
This term has gained more popularity over the past decade. The need, the want, to be somebody else. To change the way people look at us.
Who doesn't want to be more exciting? Interesting? Smarter? Cooler? Attractive?
In a world of Facebooks and Instagrams and Tinders, being "ordinary" means you are losing!... Or, so we tell ourselves secretly anyway.
No one is immune this. Even if we don't say it out loud, we know down deep we want others to see us a certain way!
But how do you "re-invent" what you've already invented over the course of your life?
Physical Change?
This is easy. Anyone can change the way they appear. And on the surface, there's nothing wrong with "mixing things up."
New clothes. A new hair cut. Tattoos. Piercings. Unique facial hair choice.
A change in your appearance can be a fun thing that makes you feel a little more daring. A little more outspoken. More Attractive.
I've played with my "look" for years (sorta). Back in high school, I was completely on the "J-Lo train" for a short time. And I had the look down to even some of the clothes she wore in her videos. Thank god that didn't last long, but it was fun to experiment with different looks.
And if you are a celebrity, you have the means and resources to make as many changes to your appearance as you please. Which is why so many of them look drastically different every time you see them!
But when you see the extremes of some changes, it's a psychological warning sign that there is a problem.
I'm not here to condemn plastic surgery or augmentations. I think its shitty to do that to people who just want to feel better about themselves.
What I am saying though is, when people CHOOSE to continue to go under the knife repeatedly, even against a doctors order, then you have an issue! This goes beyond reinvention, and becomes more of a cry for help.
Changing your look is just a window dressing. Cause at the end of the day, you are still you regardless of your make-over. And ultimately, isn't true change!
Mental Evolution
Reinvention starts and ends with you deciding "why" you want to be, instead of "who" you want to be! Why is it important for you to change who you are? What's so wrong with you that you need to be something different.
THIS IS NOT ME JUDGING AT ALL!
It's a question I've asked myself for over 30 years now. But it wasn't till I started asking myself "why?"
Is it because:
- You want to impress a certain person or people?
- You think it will make you more marketable and rich?
- You believe your life will suddenly not suck anymore?
I asked myself these question MANY times during my life.
And eventually I realized it wasn't about being a "different me" it was just about FINDING the "real me!"
Conclusion
Maybe you are still trying to find who you really are. And it's easy to hear buzzwords like "reinvention" or "new you" and think, "hey, I need to do that!"
But maybe, just maybe, you don't need to reinvent yourself, you just need to finally INVENT yourself! Find out who you really are and BE that person!
I feel like you have addressed this issue with the utmost care.
If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask… for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.
Albert Einstein
You have postulated the correct question to; enable the most authentic version of oneself to emerge from under the psychological conditioning we have received from our current socially constructed reality.
But in daily routine most decisions have to be held in a second, so that is why we or I made most of my mistakes
Men and women play with their looks for many reasons. I enjoyed your post because it tackled them from many angles. cars, houses, animals, etc... all play a role in those changes. I am currently looking to change my looks through body building. @cleverbot do you think I will complete my goal for my appearance?
Ok. Can you tell me something?
I really love your posts @suicidalviral, they are all so thought provoking and real. Good advice, it's whats on the inside that makes us who we are and when we listen and act on our soul's intentions life takes on new meaning. #theunmentionables
Unfortunately it takes a while sometimes to learn that! Happy you dug it!
I opine that a very rudimental trait common to humans is change. We need to morph for several reasons; impressions, boredom, acceptance, value etc. hence, why I consider "who are you"? A timeless rhetoric.
I like your name. :)
Nailed it with asking 'WHY'! So important. It's definitely a long and often exciting discovery process to find/invent our true calling. I do believe that we each came to this earth with a purpose, and we have to do the digging to remember what that is, and then lean into it.
Well thank you kind sir!
Awesome post. I think most of us go through phases and then one day... it all clicks together. And, yes, it usually comes with experience, age and probably a wrinkle or two.
Or Five! lol. Glad you liked it!
I always try new things, new hair color, new clothes, shoes, bags, the way I carry my hair and make up as well. It's not about who I really am, i do this because I feel like whenever I experiment with my looks, I feel fresh, my mood changes, I am happy
And that's cool. I do the same thing. It's like a fresh start.
Haha yess, and a light mood. So in love with that kind of feeling <3
Good write up. Augmenting our appearance for social acceptance and the deep need to be accepted has deep links in our evolutionary history as an absence of acceptance was more a less a death sentence for around 180,000 thousand years of our history. It's called an evolutionary stable model kinda similar to dogs in a pack configuration or cattle in a herd configuration. If we can't monkey see monkey do it causes an actual shift in our neurochemistry changing the way we see the world around us, triggering depressive states, or states of high anxiety. The Solomon Ash experiment actually confirmed that crowd conformity and links to self perception actually change the way we see reality. Thanks for the awesome article and will up vote and follow. Many blessings. :)
I might be new on steemit, but I think I've read another fascinating article today. This has a lot in relation to my post (my first and only post) earlier today advocating self-value and power of right information and its application.
You have spurred my interest in your posts and I celebrate you for that.
Cheers!