Idolising celebrities. It's something many people do, and recently I've seen quite a few people have debates about whether it's right or not…mainly on YouTube (e.g. SprinkeOfGlitter), and I wanted to share my own view on the topic.
Pretty much every young person has a celebrity or public figure like a YouTuber or blogger they look up to, which is cool, that's fine, but I often think people take it too far and get swept up in the persona that person puts on in front of cameras, in interviews or just generally in public view. I think people forget these celebrities are actually real people, people with faults, insecurities and worries.
I see far too many young people, mainly girls, saying "ohh I wish I was *insert celebrity name here*" or "*so and so* is so perfect!" and it bugs me ever so much, for various reasons.
Whether you like it/believe it or not the person you see in front of cameras, whether it's an A list actress, a member of a band, a YouTuber or a blogger, is never going to be the full and true them 100%, you're never going to see every accept of their life, every emotion they feel and everything they go through. That person will naturally only want people seeing the best parts of themselves, and they'll always put across who they want people to see them as…i.e happy, funny or confident, when it could be very far from the truth. I know from experience that even I put on a persona to people I meet. I've been told numerous times that I come across as very calm and confident, when in reality I'm a very anxious and insecure person.
It's the same with how people look, an example of this is that YouTubers know when they're going to sit down and film so of course they'll put on nice clothes, do their hair all nicely, put some makeup on, make sure their lighting is good, etc, so the person you're seeing is the best version of themself. I'm sure they look very different at the end of the day when their makeup has worn off, they're sat on a sofa in pyjamas that maybe need a wash and their hair is pulled back in a messy bun (not that looks matter, but remember no-one looks glamorous 24/7).
Celebrities and public figures live in reality too. Fact. Every single person on this planet has things they wish they could change about their appearance or how they are, even people you may look at as being the perfect human being. I guarantee you if you were to wake up one morning in the body of the person you wish to be you would see it totally differently, because we all see ourselves in the most critical way. I think it's also important to remember that age plays a huge role here…young girls look up to people who are older than them, and with age comes the ability to not care so much what people think of you which results in more confidence and an aura that brings envy to teens who are still in that stage of life where they believe everyone is staring at them, and everyone cares about what hairstyle they have (which honestly, they don't…and if they do then so what? They're not worth your time).
Admiring a certain aspect of someone I can relate to a lot more, e.g. I admire Zoe (Zoella) for doing huge things when she suffers with anxiety, I admire Carrie Fletcher for always being true to herself and for being very honest in her videos, I admire actresses who went for their dreams and achieved so many things, recently I've had huge admiration for Tullulah Willis (Demi Moore and Bruce Willis's daughter) for speaking so openly about her struggles with body dysmorphia, and I admire anyone who stands up for important issues…but admiring those aspects doesn't mean I admire every single thing those people do, and it doesn't mean I think they're perfect or want to change who I am to be them.
I think in life it's a great thing to just be who you are, have your own morals, have your own style, have your own personality and don't try to conform to be somebody who you see as being better than yourself, because honestly they aren't and I'm sure they would happily tell you that.
So yes, we can learn from public figures, we can admire certain things they achieve and of course they can inspire us, but ultimately no-one is perfect and I bet you have things about yourself that others look at and think "damn, I wish I was like that".
I definitely need to take my own advice, because I still worry about what others think of me; I'm only human after all, but I have let go a bit and relaxed a lot more and honestly it's the best thing you can do.
