Elements of Beauty
What makes someone beautiful? Beauty standards change over the years. Marilyn Monroe was considered a sex symbol in her day, but today she’d be considered as chubby.
Botticelli would’ve thought she was too thin, though.
There’s more to it than meets the eye—beauty is subjective. Who would you find more attractive, The Plain Jane with a touch of eye shadow and lipstick, or the person who looks like they’re out to shoot glamor shots?
The answer depends on your tastes, but there’s more to the idea. If that glamorous person looks haughty, or unapproachable, how would you describe them? Would the terms “stuck up” or “too full of themselves” come up in that conversation, perhaps?
What if the Plain Jane walks around with a big grin on their face? How would you describe them? Adjectives that are bound to come up include “pretty,” “passionate,” and “approachable.”
There’s more to attraction than the best beauty routine or being immaculately groomed. Our mental health plays a significant role in how we appear to others.
If we’re stressed, it becomes challenging to maintain a positive demeanor. Continuous stress leads to depression, which leaves you low in energy if left unchecked. You may lose interest in things that were once important to you or even in proper grooming.
It’s as essential to focus as keenly on your mental health routine as you do on grooming. Despite what the beauty industry tells us, looking great isn’t always the answer. We have to dig deeper and look at keeping our minds healthy, too.
A Beautiful Mind: Regimen to Upkeep A Healthy Mind
Do you want to stay beautiful without relying on grooming techniques? Start by keeping your mind and body healthy. There are several ways to do this, but most are things your mother might have tried to drum into you as a child.
A healthy diet is the first step in combatting stress. By eating a diet consisting of whole foods, you provide your body with the essential nutrients that it needs. You’ll feel better and have more energy, with a bonus of skin that looks brighter. You’ll also tone muscles naturally.
Amplify these effects by providing your body with regular doses of the essential fatty acid (EFA), Omega 3. Eat oily fish, like salmon, once or twice a week, for example. If you’re not fond of fish, take a high-quality supplement instead.
Omega 3 is essential in regulating many processes in the body. It’s also one fatty acid that we can’t produce ourselves. The EFA regulates the nervous system and also plays a significant role in keeping your skin healthy.
Water is another essential ingredient. Make sure that you drink at least eight glasses of water a day.
Finally, set up a regular exercise routine. Choose a routine that you find fun so that you’ll stick it. Dancing, for example, burns as many calories as hitting the treadmill, but it can be a lot more entertaining.
Effects of Stress and How to Keep Your Mind Healthy
One of the most important things that you can do to keep your mind healthy is to manage stress better. Stress is a survival mechanism that helped cavemen survive in a ruthless environment. It gets the body ready to run or fight.
In modern society, it’s less helpful. Your boss isn’t going to hunt you down to eat you (we hope). As much as you’d like to, you can’t challenge that ridiculous client to a cage match. These modern stressors still elicit the same fight or flight response, but we can’t act on it as we could in the wild.
The body stays in action mode and doesn’t unwind. If this happens once in a while, it’s okay. Most people are in a continuous state of stress, though, which causes cortisol levels to skyrocket. It interferes significantly with the efficient functioning of the body.
Our immune systems take the strain, and we’re more likely to turn to convenient junk food or other unhealthy alternatives as we try to cope.
It’s time to break the cycle.
It’s essential to manage your exposure to stress. If you’re like most people, your financial situation is a significant trigger, so we recommend overhauling your finances to help you feel calmer.
Start with a simple budgetary exercise.
Are you paying more than you need to on your utility bills and similar service contracts? Ohio electricity rates differ from one company to the next, for example, so if you don’t compare electric rates in Ohio, you could be throwing money away.
From there, identify unnecessary spending.
Does your child hate piano lessons? Then, why send them? Most budgets, no matter how small, have some wriggle room.
Identify where you can make some savings and enjoy a more secure financial future to improve your mental health.
