Insecurities: Paving the Pursuit of 'Beauty'

Many teenagers in your community feel insecure about the way they look. Write an article to be published in a youth magazine in which you outline the reasons why teenagers have these insecurities and suggest solutions.

Insecurities: Paving the Pursuit of 'Beauty'

by: Masyitah Sabri

Each person has their own set of ideals on the concept of beauty, especially the youth. They perceive it in a certain way and strive to achieve that – which is fine, until the realization they could not grasp that level. This perceived ‘failure’ then greatly impacts them in the form of insecurities, where they feel inadequate in comparison to their vision of beauty. However, what is the root of these teenagers’ insecurities? In this article, I will explore several reasons and suggest relevant solutions to overcome that.

First of all, insecurities are caused by self-esteem issues experienced by a teen. No matter how skilled on may be, lack of confidence will cause anxiety and insecurities to haunt them continually. To circumvent this, teenagers should form a small circle of supportive friends who can offer not just encouraging words, but also constructive criticism. A positive surrounding can provide teens with the reassurance they require and reduce the insecure emotions within them.

Besides that, teenagers may also suffer from self-esteem issues. Without a sufficient level of confidence, everything they do would feel like requiring a lot of effort but still end up in dissatisfaction. To overcome this, teenagers can build up intrinsic confidence through various activities. Motivation fuelled by external sources may be helpful, but it may not be long-lasting like intrinsic motivation. Gradually, the confidence they build will remain and benefit them in the long term.

Additionally, another source for insecurities is due to society’s standards. Some form of benchmark from society, a collective group of individuals, can be good as it provides a guideline for what teenagers should try to be. However, harmful standards also exist, such as the standard for ‘beauty’ being ‘white and skinny’. These standards glorify harmful efforts like depriving one’s self from a healthy diet and using dangerous whitening products. Teenagers would resort to these measures for the sake of meeting society’s expectation of beauty, as not doing so would feed their insecurities. One solution for this is to speak up against the harmful standards and spreading the idea of acceptance for various body images. With acceptance from society, teenagers would feel less insecure about themselves.

To conclude, the root of insecurities among teenagers lie in various reasons, such as lack of reassurance by peers, self-esteem issues, and societal standards. These problems may be overcome by several solutions including forming a circle of supportive friends, gradually building intrinsic confidence, and creating awareness regarding harmful standards.