Why is it that some people are happy with their appearance and other people fall down the rabbit hole of body dysmorphia and cosmetic procedures?
Sitting here in a hilltop perch looking down on Hollywood and the city of Los Angeles, the subject of Body Dysmorphia Disorder and the world of cosmetic procedures and surgery are fresh on my mind. No location or group of people is immune from body dysmorphia disorder: a mental illness involving obsessive focus on a perceived flaw in appearance; but perhaps Los Angeles brings it to a fever pitch because the media industry is located here. For people not in the industry, the level of perfection that normally people only see on a screen is seen in daily life as actual media celebrities and those that aspire to be, are there walking their dogs, strolling out of cross-fit, and buying kale in the organic supermarket.
Of course, amongst all of the demi-gods and goddesses are mostly ordinary people, and it makes me question why some people feel the need to be perceived as celebrity-level attractive and other people just do their best to look nice and just go on and live their lives? For me, watching the people in my life suffer from body dysmorphia disorder and the never-ending array of procedures that they subject themselves to is painful. It’s clear that below the surface there is a deep-seated dissatisfaction in something, and a dis-ease about themselves.
Cosmetic procedures in my observation have a tipping point of diminishing value. At first they look good, but then you need to keep up with them, and then some people just take them to such excess to the point that they are looking worse and worse and the negative effects start to take a toll on their health but they don’t stop. I don’t know what a person can do to help someone suffering from this affliction, nothing I have said seems to have any positive effect so I have just gotten into the habit of biting my tongue and studiously avoiding the subject of someone’s newest protruding facial feature, or terrible scarring from a searing chemical peel because when something is so clear to see what is there even to say about it?
People frequently say to me, “you are so lucky that you are good-looking,” and I always respond with, “I don’t feel lucky to be good-looking I feel lucky to feel good-looking.” The reason being that in my life, many times people who are leagues more attractive than I am, people that truly have the looks to be Hollywood movie stars, have literally cried to me that they hate the way that they look, to the point that they truly don’t believe that they can continue their lives in their physical forms. To have someone that you view as one of the most physically beautiful and perfect beings that you have ever seen or known break down and express their agony over their appearance it really sticks with you to highlight what really matters in terms of appearance. It’s all in the mind, and no amount of physical beauty on the outside is worth anything if the person on the inside isn’t happy with themselves, and I believe that the fixation on appearance is symptom of a deeper issue not the issue itself.
Part of me wants to suggest to these people to focus on something besides their appearance and put their mental capacity and focal point onto something more productive, but once again that’s another thought that won’t cross my lips. It’s in these sorts of encounters that we really feel the boundaries between one another and even a person with the most noble intentions can never, “get under the hood” of someone else’s psyche and effect a change. People change only when they want to and when they are ready to, and most often people are set as who they are and stay that way. How many times can you suggest to a friend that they should spend their money on therapy instead of injections before it’s just rude?
I created Desert Mountain Apothecary to offer products that make people look good; ideally they are so effective that people will pump the brakes on their cosmetic procedures and start to shift their perspectives on beauty. But more than the products themselves there is a powerful idea that I am trying to spread, the idea that you can harness nature in order to not only cultivate physical beauty but love, joy and happiness and a sense of ease and gratefulness in the mind. The natural materials in the products, that grow in the earth, fed by the sun and water, your skin, your body, your mind they are all products of nature and we can cultivate a state of harmony that will outshine any artificially rendered beauty.
I am thrilled when people buy my products and to know that they are using them, but my greatest wish is that people apply my products and then take a few minutes to let the oils, waters, and balms sink in and count their blessings. When you get to your favorite one count it twice. That’s all for now. Until next time; Love, Will
