When I was little, I used to believe a lot of things: flickering street lights were morse code from Heaven, the leprechaun that left me gold coins on St. Patrick's Day was real, and I looked pretty in my princess costume. I didn't care if I got my picture taken. I didn't mind if was captured in a video. Mirrors weren't my enemy. The world was beautiful and I fit nicely into that beauty, but as I got older, I couldn't seem to believe anymore.
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We are the ones who most frequently "behold" our own beauty. Our opinion of our beauty can morph into hatred and disgust. In time, the freckles across your nose, the slight crook in your smile, and your unruly hair no longer fit into your opinion of beauty. Beyonce said it right: pretty hurts and it hurts a lot.
Society's idea of beauty, in most cultures, is shaped by the media. Bombarded with images of “traditional beauty” every day, we become consumed with the idea of something we may not be. They say that sex sells, beauty sells, but insecurity sells more. These images of beauty are most distressing to young girls and women. The never ending assault from the media can take its toll:
"For years, the world of media has been working hard to construct the ideal image of what a "perfect woman" is supposed to look like. You and I know it well. Magazines, movies, and commercials, among other outlets, have spoon-fed girls with the idea that they can only be beautiful if they have long legs, great hair, and curves in all the right places. According to modern day society, girls should walk and talk pretty, have perfect skin, and cake on makeup; they should watch their weight and keep up with the newest trends in fashion.”
We spend our days numbly comparing ourselves to women in the magazines who are “beautiful.” Manufactured and retouched, these images aren’t real. It is hard to set irrational thoughts aside when these ideas and images never go away. How can we believe that real beauty isn’t just physical when that is the only thing we know?
The ideals of beauty always change and we can’t keep up. So I ask myself, is it really worth the effort of hating myself so much? Is the energy spent comparing and analyzing the things I think are wrong with me being spent well? I ask myself these questions but still can't seem to shake the idea that I will never fit into the mold of beauty that society has cast.
I know how hard it can be to see yourself as beautiful sometimes. When you find it hard to believe, just remember, the women in the magazines don't even look like the women in the magazines. Beauty isn't just outward appearance, as hard as that can be to remember. You aren't just a body, you are a whole lot more and you are beautiful in every way imaginable.
