Redefining Beauty 

It is so easy to get entangled in a superficial life. We live in a digital age where we are so wrapped up in the illusions we see on a little screen in front of us, we miss the bigger picture. 

The perception people have of us is often influenced by simply a glance- a quick look at person, a scroll on the Instagram feed, a glimpse on snapchat. Our generation has unfortunately reverted back to judging a book by its cover. 

According to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary ‘beautiful’ is defined as:

1. Having qualities of beauty, exciting aesthetic pleasure 

2. Generally pleasing

Based on this definition there a million ways to interpret who (and what) is considered beautiful. Beauty is completely subjective; and as they say, “in the eye of the beholder.” 
Society is taking this open ended interpretation of beauty and trying to twist it by attempting to pinpoint the perfect depiction of beauty. So many people in cyber space are trying to conform to this ‘ideal beauty’ that is beyond skewed- it’s virtually impossible to achieve. 

There is no universal image to define what beauty means no matter how hard we try to pinpoint it-this is the beauty in beauty. So why do we find ourselves getting so obsessed with trying to fit this illusive mold? 
I found myself in this very place for many years. I spent hours on end perfecting the hair, the makeup, the outfit…. just to end up looking like a version of myself I thought the world wanted to see. The long luscious weave, the sky high false lashes, the Victoria’s Secret push up bra-I began to rely on these things to feel beautiful. These enhancements to my image began to define me. 

Don’t get me wrong here, I still LOVE all of these things. Being to clip in hair extensions and feel like a mermaid makes me giddy! Taking a smokey eye look to the next level by adding lashes completes the look! Filling out a gorgeous low cut shirt with the perfect bra is so empowering! Every one of these things are so glamorous, so fun! Being a woman is FUN! 

The devastating mistake I fell into was letting these material things define who I am as a person-which couldn’t be further from the truth. 
I felt this overwhelming surge of energy that led me to where I am right now (in Asia). I know the lessons I am here to learn are going to unfold in spectacular ways. The first one, is letting go of this falsified imagine of beauty.

Confidence has never been my downfall, but something has recently shifted. Now, I have a newfound assurance that doesn’t come from how perfectly my hair is curled, or how on point my smokey eye is. It’s an inner confidence that I cannot falter from. This confidence cannot be taken away because it is something I have found as I am completely striped bare- makeup free, hair air dried, any outfit thrown on. If I can walk down the streets like this and feel truly happy and feel complete-this is something everyone has the right to feel.

I have come across so many women in my life who don’t realize they are beautiful. They are so stuck on this vision of what is considered “perfect” or even just “pretty.” The more they look in the mirror the more their vision is skewed. Instead of focusing on what they like about themselves they focus on what they feel society wants them to look like and how they are lacking this ideal. It has always made me so sad that these beautiful souls cannot see how they radiate and are not able to find that inner confidence within themselves.  

The beautiful shift is about redirecting how beauty is defined-how we define it in ourselves and others. This is not something someone can tell us but rather a lesson we must learn ourselves. 

There is beauty to be discovered every day, every where, in every one. Let’s go find it.