You are ALL BEAUTIFUL!

Hey, Beauties!

Today, my mission is to help you all remember how beautiful you truly are! Sometimes we struggle to feel that way and we need a reminder. Even the person you feel is the most physically beautiful person has days when they struggle to feel beautiful. But, you know what? You’re all wrong because you are truly ALL beautiful! And, yep, even though I am writing this telling you that we’re all beautiful, I too have difficult days when it comes to seeing my own beauty. Knowing how crippling that feeling can sometimes be, I feel that it is important for you to know that I do see the beauty in you all!

You’re beautiful when you’re doing what you love, when you’re taking chances and following your dreams, when you’re being brave and determined to make things happen. You’re beautiful when you’re being compassionate, sympathetic and caring. You’re beautiful when you’re showing your friends, family and loved ones how much you love and appreciate them. You’re beautiful when you choose to see the positive in an otherwise negative situation. You’re beautiful when you’re doing nice things for others; even small things like holding the door open, flashing a smile to a stranger, or just saying “thank you” ( I’ve noticed a decline in the use of those words these days :/), or acting on your intentions without it being attached to a personal outcome or gain. You’re beautiful when you ask for help when you need it; it’s a strength, not a weakness! You’re beautiful when you’re taking a stand and fighting for what you believe is right and respecting the opinions and beliefs of others. You’re beautiful when you’re standing up for others. You’re beautiful because you’ve gone through so many things and yet, are resilient. You’re beautiful because you’ve experienced heartbreak but haven’t given up on love. You’re beautiful when you Blush, Smile, Laugh, Cry, etc. Your Humility, Wisdom, Humour, and Intelligence make you SO beautiful. When you can see the beauty of all these things (and so much else) in others, you are SO DAMN BEAUTIFUL. There are so many other things besides just what you look like that make you beautiful and, in turn, contribute to your outer beauty. And you really need to appreciate those things just as much. And as far as physical beauty goes, because, though it shouldn’t determine our self-worth, it is important to most of us, you are more beautiful than you think. Others tend to see the beauty in us, where we just focus on our flaws.

Our thoughts on how beautiful we are, is a reflection of a combination of things that have happened to us in our lives and what our society has swayed us into believing is beautiful, resulting in a distortion of what is real. Culture plays a huge role in what we think is beautiful and then we compare ourselves to that, when those people don’t even stack up to that “ideal” physical beauty, in most cases. Most any photo we see in a magazine has been altered to make people look slimmer, smoother, younger, or whatever is needed to fit into that box, that unattainable idea of what we’ve come to see as beautiful. Being a graphic designer myself, I know what magic can be achieved using image manipulation an editing. And what is sad is, that even knowing all this, I myself still compare myself to it and, even at times, forget it; now that is some pretty powerful stuff. We participate in making its hold on us stronger and stronger every time we compare ourselves to a photo in a magazine, so, that means, we must have the power to change it, to reverse the effects it’s had on us. So let’s start now by remembering that all those things I told you earlier, are part of what makes you unique and your own beautiful. Those are things that you can’t see from a manipulated photo in a magazine. Now, I’m not saying that some mild editing doesn’t have its time and its place; we all want our photos of special events to look amazing or to have a certain feel, but the extent that is being done for magazines leaves even the subjects feeling like they don’t recognize themselves. They aren’t just being made look less tired or having a blemish removed, their physical features are being changed to fit into that little box of what “ideal beauty” is.

I also just wanted to share this clip with you guys. If you want to hear more from someone in the Hollywood spotlight who actually has a healthy body image, someone who we should strive to think like when it comes to our own body image and feeling beautiful, you should check out this clip of an interview with model Robyn Lawley from the Ellen show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg3tdqWSi6k. When I watched this on Ellen a couple weeks ago, I knew I would include this in a future blog post. This woman is someone for young girls and woman to look to when it comes to having a healthy body and a healthy body image. She just seems so amazing to me; the way she thinks about the entire subject. I hope, one day, our society will evolve to encourage the same thoughts and ideas about our bodies. I think we’re starting to head in the right direction; just the fact that there are models out there like her, who are talking about it, prove that we are. But there is a long way to go.

So, everyone, please know and remember that you are all truly beautiful! PLEASE! Don’t let others bring you down. Don’t let yourself compare yourself to others; you are you, not them. I promise to do my best to practice what I am preaching. it can be hard. I find it easier to see the beauty in others. Let’s be there to remind each other of one another’s beauty; our mothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, friends, and let’s not forget; men aren’t immune to feeling less than beautiful themselves. Let’s help in the fight to make ideal beauty more realistic.