“Main character”, “performative female”, “clean girl”, “pilates princess” – when I read these words on the internet, my mind immediately thinks of a girl in her 20s who has her life together! Every time I open Instagram, there’s someone buying a new house, getting red light therapy done, completing their 10k steps or perhaps having an aesthetically “busy” day. All these archetypes have made me question the authenticity of life.
The Instagram-favourite Gen Z lifestyle of waking up at 6 AM, heading to the gym, eating clean throughout the day, managing office work, catching up with friends, and keeping your 2BHK apartment look straight out of a Pinterest board – all within 24 hours – has made me question, ‘Am I not living life to the fullest?’ ‘Am I falling behind my fellow 25-year-olds?’
Being a journalist and someone who loves to just sit and think for hours, my brain has pondered on the question more than it should. When I open Instagram and watch someone’s perfect 9-5 routine or aesthetically curated apartments, it brings me back to my Pinterest board, and I cannot help but question, ‘Is this what I should do with my life?’ ‘If I don’t fall into any archetypes, whether it’s “clean girl”, “hot mess”, or “E-girl”, would I fit in?’ And after almost spending most of my 20s overthinking, I realised as a woman I should not make myself be trapped into some limited archetype. Of course, I want to take care of my health and skin as well as eat better – not because I want to fit into the “clean girl aesthetic”, but because I want to lead a healthy life. As a woman who lives and breathes fashion, of course I want to buy the latest Alaia shoes and carry a lady Dior, not to become “performative”, but to invest in pieces that will stay with me for a long time.
And about having a squeaky-clean house filled with warm lights, plushy couches, and plants – honestly that picture-perfect Pinteresty house does not feel lived-in. What’s the point when you can’t even enjoy your place to the fullest without worrying about ruining your décor or displacing one cushion, or even breaking the colour-coated bookshelf because you actually took a book out to read instead of keeping it just for show?
As I inch closer to turning 26, I realise that the messy corner in your room that you rush to fix before guests arrive, the junk you eat on weekends, the disorganised office tote, a little acne on your face, and a life that does not pressurise you to fit into a label – is actually makes us more humane and allow us to have a life we actually enjoy living in.
