By definition, beautiful is defined as “pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically”. What exactly does this mean? Everyone has their own checklist of what they think is beautiful, of what pleases them to look at. Society and marketers think they can tell us what is appealing to, what we should be drawn to and we spend all our lives trying to get past the facade of what beauty should be. Beauty is diversity. Beauty is found in the differences between each person’s body, face, personality and story. Beauty is not always physical or visual but rather emotional and mental. A face can be beautiful, but a person’s character or mind can be equally as appealing. As a young woman who has grown up under the pressures of what beautiful is supposed to be, I can say that I am only human. I catch myself comparing my body, and face to those around me, but I am also learning that neither of those measure up to the beauty that is inside of a person. I’ve learned that a good body and beautiful hair does not mean that someone is beautiful. Healthy and confident is what is beautiful, and that is a hard lesson to learn.
The pressure to be beautiful in everyone’s eyes in unrealistic, instead we should strive to be beautiful in our own eyes. As a girl I am sick of feeling like I am not good enough in the eyes of others, whether that be not skinny enough or pretty enough. If I don’t have the coolest clothes or the shiniest hair, I have had the stomach dropping feeling of not feeling like I am “enough”. But our minds have been trained to think of a Barbie doll image when we think of “beauty” and nobody looks the same, so if you think about it, beauty has no definition. This reason is why I suggest you create a new and personalized definition of what you feel is beautiful to you. Maybe beautiful will mean intelligent conversations and a sense of humor, or maybe it is that big curly hair you’ve learned to love and your obnoxious laugh (that is my own definition). The world has become so close minded about what true beauty really is and where it is found. We have been taught to think beauty is found in the face and body, it is time to open your minds and accept that true beauty is found in diversity between people.
The little differences are where beauty shines through, whether you are tall or short, book smart or street smart, black or white, you need to become your own definition of beautiful. The people in the world will see what they want to, but the only person whose opinion you will live with for the rest of your life, is your own. I know you have heard this topic discussed many times and many ways but I have heard too many people tell me they don’t feel good enough; including myself. I think it is about time we make our own decision about what beautiful is, because we all have to live with ourselves for the rest of our lives and life's too short to care about what anyone else thinks. So be you and be proud because you were made to be different from everyone else, so own it.
