Be thinner. Be taller.
Be younger. Smile more. Don’t slouch. Wear this, don’t wear that. You aren’t
beautiful enough. Smart enough. Strong enough.
You aren’t enough.
There’s a resounding, sometimes overwhelming, voice defining what it means to be beautiful.
A formula. A prescription for beauty. Indicating that you either are or
aren’t beautiful. Society’s visual reminder of beauty in each advertisement
conveys that beauty has a weight restriction and that beauty is fitting into a
mass produced mold complete with excellent bone structure and flawless skin.
Enough.
Beauty is everywhere and in everyone. We have become so accustomed to society’s
definition of aesthetics that we tear ourselves down. We pick at every aspect
of ourselves that doesn’t fit the mold. Those phrases at the top are the
thoughts that ping around my head more often than I would care to admit. Lies that chip away at the core of who we are
as people. Lies telling us that we aren’t worthy. Lies.
In each of us, lives beauty that is waiting to be revealed.
God-given beauty that takes many forms.
It’s in the act of kindness to strangers. It’s in the heartfelt smile to
the overworked cashier at the corner gas station. It’s in the strength and
resolve of the cancer survivor. It’s in the tears of the father giving his
daughter away. Beauty is in all of us. Waiting to be discovered – longing to be
appreciated and unearthed.
