Beauty

(Post previously published)

Beauty. What a strange concept. How can you define it? Does it consist of full lashes and lips? Carved out cheekbones and thick hair? Well maybe that IS how you could distinguish a person who looks beautiful or pretty from the outside, but what about the fullness of their smile or the kindness they portray?
Truthfully, it disgusts me how something as temporary as looks can be the SOLE motivation behind friendships and relationships. Do people not realise, just HOW temporary physical beauty is? All your hair and all your eyelashes could fall out from an allergic reaction, in a matter of days. Your nose could break and suffer permanent damage from an accidental fall, in a mere few hours. And if these things don’t happen, then natural processes will take place with age – greying of the hair, wrinkling of the skin. I don’t mean to be negative, I just feel like there are so many people that don’t understand this.
There are certain people in the world that think and feel that they are better than others. That because they are regarded as ‘pretty’ and ‘fashionable’ they somehow have lost the need to be polite, to smile at others and to do other general kind acts. It is so important to be confident about who you are and how you look, but not to take it too far and to think that you’re superior to anyone else. I think it's great for people to take some pride in their appearance - I for one try to. But for me, the next quote says it all - no matter what, stay humble.

Whether you’re dressed in all Primark clothes (Sorry Primark ily x) or always wearing expensive clothing (ily also ZARA, probably more so when I’m rich and famous x). Whether you are the epitome of beauty, or the stereotype of ugly. Just remember that there isn’t much difference between us all, and the bigger differentiations are made internally, through your behaviour and personality.
I say stereotype of ugly because honestly, I’ve never seen an ‘ugly’ person. I mean yeah, someone may have acne prone skin, wear braces and have greasy hair. But if you actually look at a person, anyone – you will see how beautiful they really are. Like I know how cliche it sounds but we just never really focus on specific features and instead how it all comes together at once. Like the eyes MAN, how can anybody have ugly eyes?
‘There is beauty in everything, just not everyone chooses to see it’
I’m not at all trying to say or be naïve enough to believe that looks don’t matter, because we live in a society where it's unfortunate but looks do seem to be everything. My message is simply that physical beauty is not the only important thing in life, it is temporary and we shouldn’t regard it as a priority.
It’s unfortunate that because of the significance of it in our society and in our lives - many girls (including myself) feel the need to constantly wear makeup to live up to this standard of ‘beauty’. Yes, I LOVE makeup, I love applying it and being able to add more to my collection, as many of us do – but it is just as important to feel comfortable in your own skin.
I know many beautiful people that feel insecure about themselves and have a tendency to point out their flaws, which are more apparent to themselves than anyone else. We all have a habit of ‘self-flaw picking’ (YES I JUST MADE MY OWN WORD UP (technically two but minor)) but to anyone reading this post, do this simple task. Next time you look in the mirror, before you begin to focus on your flaws – pick out 3 features that you like about yourself. Don’t feel big-headed or ego-centric, I genuinely think that this is a way in which you can begin to feel more comfortable within yourself. Maybe you have pretty eyes, or nice bone structure – Just concentrate on those 3 features and feel more positive about yourself, because however cheesy this sounds, you’re probably beautiful and so used to your features that you are unable to see what others can.

​This illustration is taken from the children’s book ‘The Twits’ by Roald Dahl. Yet I believe that children are not the only ones that need to be reminded of this – so let us try to better our thoughts and to better our hearts, qualities much more important than looking beautiful, yet help us to do so. (In my opinion)