The Relationship Between Appearance and Happiness - Announcer Journal Column

There is a saying that beauty is truth, and truth is beauty. If you look up the word mi (美), which means beauty in the Korean dictionary, it is defined as “beauty that gives people a pleasant feeling through sensory organs such as the eyes.” The desire to become beautiful is human instinct, but it is also true that today’s uniform standards of beauty, which ignore differences in race, age, and culture, are not necessarily a ‘source of pleasure.’ Since the amount of money invested in appearance care worldwide reaches 136.85 trillion won, and Americans spend as much as 47.6 trillion won on dieting alone, it would not be surprising to say that there is a price to pay to become beautiful.

 

Interest in beauty has continued since the beginning of human history, but the standards for beauty have changed in many forms depending on the era, historical background, and cultural context. The perception of plastic surgery, intended to meet people’s desire to pursue beauty, has also changed greatly from the past to the present.

 

In the past, there was a somewhat negative and secretive perception of plastic surgery, which changes the appearance inherited from one’s parents. But these days, it is increasingly being established positively and confidently as a means of resolving appearance-related complexes, improving interpersonal relationships, restoring self-confidence, and strengthening a new sense of self.

 

In my case, I always work on procedures that may not necessarily be needed, for people who are physically healthy, almost every day. Of course, when these surgeries lead to happy and grateful connections, I also receive unexpected fulfillment and happiness.

 

However, if the now-common perception of plastic surgery leads to reckless and impulsive attempts, it can cause many problems.

 

When considering plastic surgery, the following points should definitely be taken into account.

 

First, you should examine for yourself what your true reason is for wanting a change through plastic surgery or a procedure.

If you expect that all the worries you are experiencing for reasons other than your specific appearance can be solved simply by changing your appearance, it may unfortunately lead to a bad outcome.

Plastic surgery refers to externally modifying a person’s body parts or face. By altering the human body through surgical techniques, it aims to restore original function and improve quality of life, and it is often performed primarily to satisfy aesthetic desires.

 

Second, you should examine whether your expectations about the results after surgery are realistic and objective. Depending on your appearance before surgery and how well you adapt afterward, plastic surgery can bring dramatic changes, but it is important to clearly recognize that it is not a method that can change a person into any appearance as if by magic. Plastic surgery can be considered successful when it emphasizes safety rather than wishful thinking, and when it takes into account the individual’s facial shape and proportions.

 

Third, you should check whether your sense of self and psychological state are sufficiently healthy. Only when you are positive and in a healthy state of self can you comfortably accept changes in your appearance, and fully enjoy the confidence and happiness that come from them.

 

The ultimate reason we live is to become happy in one form or another. It would be important to ask where happiness comes from, where it can be found, and what the relationship between appearance and happiness is.

Everyone goes through many worries and their own complexes in life, and although we try to resolve these complexes in healthy ways, the ultimate goal will eventually be happiness. Happiness is more of an abstract concept than a concrete one, so no one can clearly define it or set a definite standard. True happiness can be found when one’s mind is relaxed and peaceful, and if we can discover, even in the small things that usually pass by, a modest but meaningful sense of beauty, then I think happiness can be found easily anywhere.

 

Happy beauty is something that radiates from within, not from the outside. There is no measure for happiness, and there is no absolute standard of beauty.

Among the famous lines from Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince is: “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

In modern society, with the prevalence of so-called lookism, are we not living while neglecting beauty that cannot be seen? The desire to become beautiful is human instinct, but it should not become a source of pleasure. Beauty does not refer only to external beauty. That is only one part of it. We must abandon the narrow thinking that sees the standard of beauty only as an aesthetic issue. Beauty is the perfection of harmony. Perhaps what is lacking is not beauty in our eyes, but discovery of beauty. The standard of beauty lies within me.

 

 

                                                                                          Director of Jelim Plastic Surgery
                                                                                          Plastic Surgeon, Doctor of Medicine
                                                                                          Jeong Jae-young