#DontJudgeChallenge

I've been seeing a lot of so called "Don't Judge Challenge" done by a bunch of attractive people lately & to be honest, at the beginning I was like, "Wooo! Eye candy!" But after seeing a compilation of these #Dontjudgechallenge videos, I was like, "Okay. This is getting annoying." Honestly, I felt like those attractive looking people were attention seekers who were just doing it to gain likes, shares & popularity for having those good looks they were gifted with. Okay, I don't mean to judge them like that but, that's the impression I get from it & I bet I'm not the only one who feels so. But seriously, do they even know what is the #Dontjudgechallenge about?

In case you didn't know, it was supposed to be a body positive movement for everyone to learn to accept their flaws & imperfections as their natural self while not getting judged by others. Somehow people started adding those "flaws" to themselves & making videos to show how perfectly beautiful, hot or handsome they look in real life. Some even put on makeup to enhance their looks when the movement was supposed to be about being confident in your own skin. The message was to not be afraid to be yourself & you don't need anything like makeup to hide your flaws. It's absolutely okay to put on makeup. Really! But it's also okay to go makeup free & flaunt your natural beauty. :)

I, myself admit that I am not perfect. I have freckled imperfect skin, small eyes that got me bullied & teased all my life which got me to hate my small eyes. I even got sort of jokingly asked to do plastic surgery which wasn't funny at all & was really hurtful. Until now, even though I've stopped hating my eyes & instead felt grateful to have them as my signature look that people remember me for, I still do have my insecurities about it. I will always have this fear of people judging me about it, telling me I'm not pretty because to be pretty, you have to have big eyes. Isn't that one of the features of stereotypical pretty girl? But that's society today. I didn't know that to be attractive you should have this, this & this. Once you had them all, you are considered attractive. I'm not saying that everyone thinks this way but majority of people do.

I also admit that I have & do judge people. We all judge people too quickly with a first impression. I know that judging someone I don't know is wrong, but sometimes I just can't help it. Even so, we should always give our impression on them a second chance until we actually get to know them & their character as some people may be different from what we thought of them to be. But as for appearance wise, it's always not okay to judge someone & insult them on how they look. If someone called you ugly, disgusting or anything like that, how would you feel? You never want it to be said to you so why do it others? It's not like they want themselves to be like that. Who wants it? No one. This is why we should never body shame anyone but instead give them motivational support. Just a simple act of kindness by saying, "hey you look great today!" could easily make someone's day a better one.

So stop with the nonsense #DontJudgeChallenge videos & adding flaws to your face, because it doesn't even help the victims of body shaming at all. Next time before anyone joins such challenges, don't join because it is a trend, do it right because you care.

Lastly, I would like to share a video that I find that really suits this topic. It's not directly about the #DontJudgeChallenge, but it's about how social media can set unrealistic expectations on both women and men. One challenge many face today, is that as a society, we're so used to seeing false images of perfection, and comparing ourselves to unrealistic beauty standards that It can be hard to remember the most important thing - You ARE beautiful. I think that it suits the don't judge challenge because many have the unrealistic expectations on both men & women leading it to body shaming & cyber bullying as these victims are judged by those unrealistic expectations.

"You are beautiful - no matter how flawed you feel, no matter how upset you may about the way you look or how hard you find it to make friends, or be confident. Believe in yourself, and never let anyone tell you're not beautiful - not even yourself." by My Pale Skin.