Reinventing Yourself

A well-known actor used that term today in response to a reporter's question about how he turned his life around from drug and alcohol addiction.  I find reinvention a rather curious noun, when used in reference to human behavior, because, typically, no one invents a human, unless you count the Frankenstein monster, you think of R2-D2 orC-3PO as human, or you believe avatars are real.  So, reinvention seems quite ridiculous to describe the act of making important changes in one's life.

No matter what philosophy of life a person has adopted. one constant applies.  Humans are born with a combination of genes that produce certain traits and physcial characteristics.  What they choose to do with that inheritance will define how others perceive them.  Thus, when you don't like who you see in the mirror, make some changes, but don't break the mirror.  Every choice comprises both positive and negative consequences, so the mirror isn't the issue.

With the variety of cosmetic surgeries available today, you can reshape your entire body at will, unless you choose the wrong surgeon.  New lips, new chin, new nose, new breasts, new stomach--you name it, and you can have it--for a price.  Does that fix the problem?  I don't think so, unless someone has experienced a disfiguring trauma or a birth defect.  In my experience, the underlying conern is embedded inside the brain, and surgery won't cure that predicament. 

Women are especially vulnerable to low self-esteem in this culture because the ideal Barbie's body doesn't exist in most real women.  If it did, we would see women toppling over on a regular, when they bend to retireve objects they dropped.  Instead of aspiring to the model of "perfect body," perhaps we'd all be happier if we celebrated the talents we have and downplay the weaknesses.  Instead of  "reinventing yourself," make changes will transform how you see yourself. 

Eat less and exercise more, if you want to lose weight.  Laugh more and enjoy the people in your life, if you want to be happier.  Weed out toxic people who bring you down, if you want true friends to surround you.  Stop drinking, smoking, taking drugs, or any other behavior that interferes with work or relationships.  Get help from qualified professionals, if you can't shake depression or constant feelings of self-loathing.  No one makes it through life without problems.  When problems define who you are, you are the problem.