Tapping into Your Beauty
Every once in a while, we come across stories where women say they finally accepted themselves for who they are. Alicia Keys is a prime example when she decided to stop wearing makeup and go out and be “raw”. She is getting praised because she is embracing who she is the way she wants to, and she is not falling into the traps of Hollywood, social media, or social norms. She is just being who she wants to be.
Which brings me to my first question:
Why do we always find ourselves comparing, poking, prying, and disappointing ourselves with the help of our own doing?
We tell our friends they are beautiful but we can’t accept it ourselves?
You are beautiful and you must start loving your beauty so others can embrace their beauty too! Every form of societal beauty seems to have been a fad at some point from full lips, to big butts, to skinny waists, and certain hair. But here is the reality, we need to be the beauty we want to see in our world. That beauty, goes beyond skin deep.
It is such a blessing to see all the types of people in the world with their differences, that’s what makes us unique.
There is no harm in healthy goals like wanting to exercise more and eating healthy, but when it comes to body modification we need to be careful. What is the real reason we want to change ourselves? Isn’t it better to love who we are now, just as we are?
There have been articles about the dangers of trying to obtain what people/individuals deem as the ultimate beauty in their times, and it can be really risky. Take a look…
Deadly Butt Injections: CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/24/health/deadly-butt-injections/
Breast Implants and Cancer: NPR
Eating Disorders and College Sports: NBC Affiliate
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Around the world many have endured a variety of beauty fads to reach the “ideal” beauty.
Foot Binding in China: Smithsonian Magazine
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-footbinding-persisted-china-millennium-180953971/
Different Beauty Regimens Over the Years: Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/05/weird-womens-beauty-products_n_4312196.html
As you can see there is a trend, at the time, whatever is “hot” or “cute” or “magnificent” entices people to go to extremes to meet that ideal beauty. Have you ever wondered, what happens when the trends and fads change? What about when you’re older with all these changes that aren’t even relevant (and that don’t even matter)?
Think about it, when’s the last time you saw someone sporting a Victorian dress with a corset, with a super small waist walking down the street? At one time period, if you did, you were “absolutely gorgeous.”
Guess what, trends change, that’s what they always do and will continue to do. So instead of physically changing our bodies to meet a society’s expectations, let’s first start with accepting, enjoying, and loving who we are, the way we are.
Each of us has so much to offer through our work, passion, character, and life! We shouldn’t focus on the one thing we don’t have in comparison to the rest. Heck, that one thing we don’t have makes us unique and beautiful just the way we are (and at some point in time, what we do have will be the latest trend).
So instead of spending thousands of dollars on plastic surgery, or the most expensive beauty products, just consider how that money could be used for other things, like education or charities.
That’s not to say makeup and fashion trends are bad. But when we feel like we have to change who we fundamentally are, that’s when situations can get dangerous.
Be who you want to be and do what makes you happy, but really consider the consequences of your decisions and whether the pain is worth it, because honey, that beauty fad can come and go as quick as it got here.
Either way you are beautiful, inside and out. Stop comparing and start embracing.
Society’s definition of beautiful is fleeting, but your beauty, well… that’s eternal.