I ask whoever is reading this to take a minute out of their day to watch this video of a Dove Campaign from three years ago.

I watched this video in a Leadership course at CCSU. The entire class watched in silence. As the video continued on and I saw the artists sketch of what someone else described a person as compared to what them described themselves, my eyes filled with tears. The difference between the pictures was incredible. The drawing of how someone else described the stranger that they talked to looked exactly like the stranger.

I felt empowered through this video. The way others perceive us is completely different than our own image of ourselves. The wrinkles and tired eyes, a stranger does not notice. What about the mole on your face you find so huge? A stranger doesn't even remember seeing it.

This is my theory: We are all beautiful, we find who we are and we learn to love ourselves. But, what we call beauty on the outside is a reflection of who we are on the inside. While we may perceive ourselves as our worst version, the strangers around us see our true selves. They see the real you without even knowing you.

For example, you ever first meet someone and think they are so strikingly beautiful? Then you get to know them and notice the flaws, get to see their personality, and all of a sudden they are just "Hannah" or "Jack" to you. Nothing jaw dropping anymore. But then one day you catch them off guard, enjoying a sunset perhaps, and you see it all again; that day you first met the initial strike of beauty, you see it when they are not looking or paying attention but just being. That is the real beauty within a person. When there is nothing but the you on the inside colliding with the outside.

This Dove campaign shows that while the strangers spoke they noticed the beauty in each other but not just features, actions. We don't realize that our beauty portrayed through the outside is not just our looks. It is our actions and how it affects others. I ask you to take a deeper look into these thoughts and think about what it would be like if you didn't look into a mirror for a week straight. How would it affect you? Also, how would it affect the people around you? Would you become more confident or less?

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is such a classic quote that runs true to this day. But I must challenge this statement, that indeed beauty is in the eye of the beholder but beauty can be found in the eyes of stranger. Whether you believe you are beautiful or not, someone will.

I ask you to pay attention, learn to love those little flaws you dread to look at, and remember that those people walking, see the beauty that you do not, but I promise you it is there.