Im maxxed out on maxxing enough with this toxic trend thats making us all feel terrible

I’m scrapping my 10-step skincare routine and stepping away from the supplement stacking  — I’m officially maxxed out.You know what I mean — no matter what virtual planet you’re living on, or which digital rock you’ve been hiding under, the concept of “maxxing” absolutely everything in your life, beginning with your looks, has become near-impossible to escape.Social media is now wall to wall with pushers of impossibly difficult beauty regimes, supplement stackers and other content creators, who — each sporting top-tier blowouts and matching Alo sets while barking step-by-step instructions on how to go from “average” to “gorgeous” — lurk just one swipe away, waiting to make you feel terrible about yourself.In this world of constant self-refinement, every inch of one’s appearance (and really, whole life) must be primed, preened and optimized.

Improvement fanatics regularly take to social media to share the endless hacks they employ to upgrade their health routines, careers and even personal lives.The nightmare we’re now living in began with looksmaxxing — i.e., the practice of optimizing one’s physical attractiveness to the hilt — back at the beginning of the decade.Since moving from the dark, pimply corners of the manosphere to the mainstream, the aesthetic trend has turned beauty into an impossible goal — not just for guys, but for women, too.Watching dudes beat themselves up with hammers was kind of funny, I’ll admit.

But when the niche idea leaped over the gender line, I wasn’t laughing anymore — I was too busy trying to keep up with all the latest demands for perfection.Tape your mouth.

Slug your cheeks.Wrap your hair in heatless curls, tongue-scrape, keep up with Botox, invest in laser treatments, try radio-frequency, no side-sleeping (beware of wrinkles), oil the cuticles, don’t forget the neck, tweeze those brows, whiten that smile — who has time or money for all of this? And that’s just the face....