Describing Beauty

How do we describe beauty? It is such a vague subject; a fleeting ideal that is as subjective as whether your favorite ice cream flavor is Mint Chocolate Chip or Rocky Road. Everyone has a different idea of what is considered beautiful. It varies based on background, country, cultural cues, personal tastes…the list goes on and on!

The only thing that seems to be harder than defining the word “beautiful” is truly feeling beautiful. Ask yourself now, do I feel beautiful? Most of us would say no if we are being completely honest with ourselves. Feeling beautiful seems unattainable a good portion of the time. It’s a fickle emotion, characterized by inconsistency and usually strongly affected by our environment. One day we feel great about ourselves. The next day there’s a Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and we’re back to body shaming and pointing out our flaws. This is a vicious cycle that needs to stop.

A bad hair day isn’t a bad YOU day.

Sure, there will be days when you aren’t as thrilled with your hairstyle as you’d like to be, but having those little things tied directly to our self-esteem is a big problem. When you’re having a bad hair day, call it that: a bad hair day. It doesn’t mean it’s a bad YOU day. You are you no matter what your hair looks like.

Even the most physically beautiful women in history expressed insecurity about their looks. They were constantly looking for things to change. Losing weight, getting a nose job, you name it. And when each thing failed to make them feel beautiful, they would simply move along to the next crash diet or carb-shattering workout.

Let’s face it, Selena Gomez really does have great hair.

There are tons of fun beauty products and tips and tricks out there to help us like what we see when we look in the mirror. That stuff is fine! It can be really fun to try out new makeup products or that conditioner that Selena Gomez uses. But buy it because you’re going for softer hair, not because you want to feel better about yourself as a person.

This is big issue in our world today. But it can be remedied slowly but surely if we just talk it out. So, what are we going to do about it? I say we start by deciding to look at beauty for what it is: a seed planted on the inside that eventually grows to be obvious on the outside. In other words, stop letting your self-esteem be defined by your reflection in the bathroom mirror. What ultimately makes you feel good about yourself is recognizing that you’re shiny and bright on the inside, too.