“You look so well.”
After illness, those words can feel wonderful. They can also carry an uncomfortable assumption; that looking better must mean being better.
In this episode of Seen. Not Defined., Vikki explores the complicated relationship between appearance and recovery, and why wanting to feel attractive again doesn’t make you shallow.
Vikki reflects on reclaiming make-up, clothes and glamour after treatment, the pressure to “look recovered”, and why comments like “you’d never know” reveal something deeper about the way we value visible recovery.
Recovery is not an aesthetic.
You can look beautiful and still be struggling.
You can look different and still be thriving.
And caring about how you look does not mean allowing appearance to determine your worth.