I love her for making this. Since before high school, I have watched my peers do anything they can to be liked, to be loved, to make the impression. Every magazine on the shelf tells you to drop weight, to trim down, to change who you are. Even those masked with “health” typically are full of articles on make up and beauty supplies. When you start to notice all the marketing telling you that you are not enough, it is impossible to un-see it.
YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. You. Just You.
We have all fallen to it – who has not. My father told me once, “if you stand naked in a field with nothing around you and you can be okay with you, then you have it right.” Wisdom in those words.
Our daughter told me at 3 or 4 years old, she wanted to wear eye shadow so she could be “beautiful.” Where did this come from? I barely wear make up. Naturally, I corrected her, “No, sweetie, YOU are beautiful. Makeup just makes you colorful. YOU are beautiful.”
Then after thinking on it, added the words of my mother, “There are very pretty people who are very ugly. The most beautiful part is on the inside.”
There are very pretty people who are very ugly.
Over the past few years, there has been an increased number of videos showing what photoshop does… it distorts reality. It gives our daughters an unnatural picture of who they should strive to be.
How about instead of teaching the importance of perfectly groomed nails, we teach how to extend a hand to another? How about we teach them to hug in a way that our bodies touch and tells someone “you are not alone,” as opposed to worrying about how their body may feel under another’s hands? How about we show them how to quiet their minds so they can touch their own souls and another’s, as opposed to only hearing the constant sound of “not good enough?” How about we teach how to find our sanctuary in friends, and not just the internet, alcohol or drugs?
Perhaps if we listened we would stop judging each other and care. We would see we are all living our own battles, making our own mistakes, falling and learning. What we need are those who will love us for our hearts, for our struggles, for our strength…NOT for our judgments. But if our biggest critic now lives in our own head, true compassion will never exist.
If our biggest critic now lives in our own head, true compassion will never exist.
“You don’t have to try.” You were made to be bigger than your physical person. We do not weep at funerals because her clothes were immaculate, her hair was precise, her teeth were blinding, makeup flawless, boobs perky, and her stomach flat.
Be real. We are wasting our lives buying into it.
Be You.
Be Imperfection 