When you look in the mirror, what are some of the first things that come to your mind? Among many women today, we look in the mirror and see nothing but flaws. Thoughts run through our minds, "My skin could be clearer", "My breasts could be larger", "My body could be thinner"; seeing nothing but the imperfections that have been consistently magnified by our peers. We've began to live our life saying "If only..." and strive each day to obtain this unrealistic idea of "beauty" that our society has come to thrive upon.
Our society has become so consumed with obsessing over a number; the number of likes on a photo, the number of comments on a status, or the number of retweets on a Tweet. We have become so consumed that often we strive to be the image of beauty that we want others to appreciate. We figure, to gain acceptance, we must be what it is that others want us to be.
I remember a couple of weeks ago a man came up to me and asked me to take a survey. As I was filling out the survey, I came across a question that really made me dig deep into my thoughts. The question was, "Why do you wear make up?". Such a simple question, yet I wasn't sure of the answer.
Why do we wear make up? Often times, I will hear of girls wearing make up to hide blemishes or acne scarring. Other times, I will hear that girls will wear make up to make themselves feel more confident. However, what is it about wearing make up that allows us to feel more comfortable in our skin? Is it the fact that the obnoxious blemish on our nose is now more slightly hidden? Or is it because the contour on our cheeks makes us look like a distant relative of the Kardashians?
Take a second to really delve into your thoughts as to why you wear make up. Of course, this is not me saying that wearing make up is unacceptable. I am guilty of applying a little make up here and there on a daily basis, but why is it that I do this? That is the question which I have been searching for the answer to.
I've found that among younger and younger girls, make up has become a part of their every day life. It's not just a dab of concealer here and a flick of mascara there, but rather a full coverage foundation here and an entire palette of eyeshadow there. There are girls who are 13 years old wearing more make up than most women in their 20's or 30's. What ever happened to those awkward teenage years that you look back and laugh upon? Many now argue that it is "what makes them feel confident", however we should consider not teaching our future generations to hide behind a façade in order to feel comfortable and confident in their own skin.
As cliché as it sounds, we all are beautiful in our own ways. It is our imperfections that make us unique and individual. If we were to live in a world where each woman were to look the same, it would reap us of the distinctive characteristics that we all have which make us who we are. It has taken me, and is still taking me, a while to become fully comfortable and confident in not wearing make up myself. I have lead myself to believe that in order to be happy and accepted by my peers, I must look like everyone's idea of "perfect".
In reality though, there is no such thing as perfection. We were all created the way we were for a purpose. We should allow our individualism and uniqueness to showcase itself. There is no harm in wearing make up to accentuate our beauty but we must understand the boundaries between accentuating the features given to us and creating new features that we wished we had. We should encourage our children now and the children of the future to embrace the qualities that make them who they are.
Ultimately, more confidence and happiness will come from accepting the person you are and not from the number of likes you receive on a photo. Love the skin which you were put in and don't let any one person tell you differently. We are made to be different and beautiful in our own ways and I think that it is time that we all started to embrace that.
