From love and relationships to work, we all romanticise certain ideas. The ways in which these ideas are portrayed in movies and media further reinforces the romanticisation. Somewhere, we start believing that it’s the ‘cool’ or ‘desirable’ way of doing things and often base our life decisions on the same notion.
Here’s a list of attitudes, lifestyles and ideas we should stop romanticising, like right away.
1. Toxic relationships
If you are constantly arguing about everything with your partner or guilt tripping each other into doing what you want, it’s a sign of an unhealthy relationship.
2. Ridiculously expensive weddings
Desi weddings are all about pomp and show these days. The more the money spent, the better it is considered to be even if people have to take loans.
3. Staying late at work
People brag about working beyond office hours and while managers appreciate this behaviour, it propogates a toxic work culture in the long run.
4. Mental illness
While there has been a lot of awareness around mental health and mental illnesses lately, we have created a society where mental health is romanticised.
5. Marriages
Through movies and TV shows, we are made to believe that marriages are the ultimate means to attain happiness in life. It’s time we realise that marriages are just the beginning of a journey.
6. Poverty
When we romanticize the struggles of impoverished people we fail to realise that no person deserves to have to work tirelessly to earn the right to live.
15 yr old Jyoti Kumari, carried her wounded father to their home village on the back of her bicycle covering +1,200 km over 7 days.
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) May 22, 2020
This beautiful feat of endurance & love has captured the imagination of the Indian people and the cycling federation!🇮🇳 https://t.co/uOgXkHzBPz
7. Pregnancy
Movies and commercials paint a picture of happy women during pregnancy and perfect bodies right after giving birth. This is far removed from the reality. It’s scary and exhausting.
8. Parenthood
It’s not that parenthood is bad, it’s great but only for those who know what they are getting into, before choosing to have children and not because society wants them to have kids. Not because we have a blueprint ready.
9. Dating ‘bad boys’
‘Bad boys’ may seem all cute on paper but no, we are not rehab centres or therapists to change/transform them.
10. Sadness
I just typed ‘Why sadness’ on Google and the first suggestion was ‘is important’. You must have seen people wanting to portray themselves as sad by posing in a specific manner for a picture. All this is suggestive of how we have started romanticising sadness.
11. Panic attacks and OCD
Having panic attacks is deemed as a quirky character trait these days. Moreover, movies in general have romanticised the entire idea of helping a person having panic attacks.
If you are a cleanliness freak, like doing things in a particular order or plan out everything in detail, then you probably do not have OCD. It’s much more than what they show in movies and social media. People suffering from OCD face distress each and every day.
12. Stalking
Let’s be clear, nothing’s sexy about someone following you around or appearing randomly everywhere you go. It’s downrightly creepy.
13. IITs and IIMs
Indians attach a lot of glamour and esteem with getting admission into these premier institutes. Only a few know the harsh reality behind the corridors.
14. A skewed idea of self-care
You must have seen social media posts on the ideal self-care routine with bubble baths, luxurious an expensive products, etc. This right here is the romanticisation of self-care. Isn’t self-care routine different for everyone
15. Struggle stories
There is a deep romanticization of struggle in our society, so much so that the privileged make it a trend like’rags to riches’.
Hey this cannot be true. I am at a complete loss of words. https://t.co/4H7IPK95J7
— Ranganathan Madhavan (@ActorMadhavan) July 29, 2021
Let’s not choose to be the romanticised version of reality.
