One afternoon, I was sitting in my dorm room scrolling through videos on YouTube like I usually do after a stressful day of classes and work. A thumbnail of a video caught my eye titled "People React to Being Called Beautiful." The video was made by just a normal high school girl who decided she wanted to conduct a social experiment on her peer's reactions to being called beautiful. I watched the video to the end, my eyes glued to the screen. The video got me thinking: why do we find it so difficult to accept the compliment "you are beautiful"? Why do we take kind words by blushing and staring at the ground? Why can't we see our own beauty for what it is?
So I decided to carry out an experiment of my own. I looked at the way the faces of the people in the video lit up when they were told they were beautiful, and I wanted to make people in my life feel that way, too. I also wanted to see how they would react. Would they be able to see the beauty that I see? I started with my friends at school. I simply went up to my friends and said to them individually, "I just wanted to let you know that you are a beautiful person."
Then there were people who I did not the opportunity to say this to in person, so I did so through texts that read the same as what I said to my friends in person. I also sent out some Snapchats to the remainder of people I wanted to tell this to, with the same words repeated over the 10-second video.
What I found out was that telling someone they are beautiful will absolutely make their day. It didn't matter whether it was face to face or by phone, the reactions tended to be the same. I got some interesting responses ("Lol um you OK Meg?" "Thanks???" "It's lit."), which were good for a laugh. Most were a little different than this. Whether it was face to face or not, the way my friends responded was really touching. Seeing these reactions right before my eyes was the best part. I was reminded that one simple compliment like calling someone beautiful can change their whole day. Just making people I care about happy certainly changed mine.
So what did I learn from all of this? I was reminded that as cheesy as it sounds, beauty is a lot more than what we see on the outside. I think we all need a reminder sometimes how awesome we are. We might not have everything together, and sometimes we can feel much less than beautiful. But the things that make us imperfect, and the things that make us who we are: those are the things that I personally find to be the most beautiful. So if you are reading this, know that you are beautiful because you are you. And I really, truly mean that.
