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We live in a time where we share almost everything about ourselves online for the people to see--the good times we treasure, the people we value, and most importantly the things we are just so proud of. The situations sounds right when put that way, but when we actually browse Instagram and observe the way celebrities flash not just ads but also some sort of excessive bragging, then you'll see how there's something just messed up about all of it.

I remember, I used to follow someone on Instagram who would always post pictures of herself and write captions on it about how beautiful she thinks she is. I know it sounds like perhaps, she was just being humorous but she certainly wasn't. Alright, she's a pageant girl but that's exactly it--shouldn't she be no longer expressing her "beauty" in that loud manner anymore since she has already proven it onstage in front of judges and people with different standards of beauty?

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Idealized Self-Image

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According to Karen Horney, a psychologist, there is an idealized self-image one must give up to reach self-realization which she believes is the key to the stability of our mental and emotional beings. The idealized self-image is something a person thinks they should be in order to be acceptable. It is this image they try to achieve that is based on cultural or societal norms which according to Horney, is the reason why we sort of lose ourselves and sometimes end up being neurotic.

Speaking of being neurotic, this idealized self-image really causes that to happen. One example of that is:

The Neurotic Pride

Neurotic pride is an unhealthy expression of pride. It is loud as to protect one's image that is based on unrealistic standards and to assure the proclaimed glory of the self. It is simply flashy as hell but even worse because it is based on a rigid standard of perfection.

Are celebrities like this? SOME of them, yes. We know a lot of celebrities who claim to be gods, kings, queens, etc. that may start off as just a figure of speech but slowly work its way into people's heads and their own as the ideal image. Now that's also why most of them are messed up.

Celebrities either feed themselves or are asked to swallow unrealistic things for them to achieve which of course they may take regardless of its nature because it is disguised as the ultimate key to greatness, glory. Horney believed that such mentality is the main reason why we never have that sense of genuine accomplishment among ourselves-we get summoned by standards and somehow end up neurotic like this.

To give you more ideas about neurotic pride, here are differences between it and the healthy pride:

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So this Generation....

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I would say, this generation cannot be easily labeled as neurotically proud. However, it certainly is one cocky generation. Still, it's just a generalization. Perhaps, this generation's flashiness could be neurotic pride as well, yet we'll never know really know just from their Instagram posts from the beach or the coolest clubs.

references:

• ptypes
• Theories of Personality-Jess Feist

img sources:

• Karen Horney