You. Are. Beautiful.

(sidenote: I am reposting this from an older blog entry I write for a different blog. It's relevant, though, so give it a read through). 


You are a beautiful human being.

How often do any of us hear that phrase? Honestly? When was the last time someone said that to you? Sure, there may be some of us who hear it from our husbands or boyfriends or when we were out at the bar last weekend. But when those people say it are they referring to your inner beauty or your appearance on the outside?
Beauty is not how much you weigh, your pant size, how long your hair is, your eye colour, the brand of clothing that you adorn your body with. Beauty isn’t measured by the number on the scale or the inches around your waist. True beauty isn’t any of these things. It makes me so mad and is such a shame that the media and society has conditioned us to view beauty in this way.

When was the first time you thought yourself imperfect? Think hard. Do you want your children to think that way about themselves at that age? For me, I started obsessing over my appearance very early on in elementary school. The thought of Melina being like that makes me sick to my stomach. I love the age she is at now. She is so happy with everything. She doesn’t look in the mirror and feel self-conscious or worry about the way she looks. I wish it could stay like this forever. I tell Melina every chance I get how beautiful I think she is. Not only that, but I compliment her personality too, which I think is MORE important than just telling her that she’s beautiful. Yes, it’s important for every little girl to hear she’s beautiful. But I think telling her she’s smart is even more important. We’re always commenting on Melina’s intelligence around her because she IS smart and she always impresses us. Even though she may not fully understand what “being smart” means, you can bet that she’s making note of it.

I left a note in the hotel room our family stayed in this weekend for the maid. I love leaving notes for the maids and have done it on quite a few occasions. This note, I stuck on the mirror in the bathroom and wrote “You are beautiful. Do not forget it.” I hope I made her day. People need to be reminded of this more often. You don’t have to be a size 0 or be the owner of luscious locks to be beautiful. Being beautiful is being YOU. It is a shame that some people spend their whole lives trying to fit the conventional standards of beauty in order to impress someone, when the true beauty of their being lies in their minds, in their personalities, not in their appearance.

I do not fit the conventional standards of beauty in ANY sense. I’m short. I have love handles. I wear my glasses even though I really don’t need to. My hair is constantly pulled back in a headband or ponytail (when it’s long enough). My skin decided to channel it’s inner teenager in my 20’s because I had awesome skin in high school but now I’m constantly breaking out. I’m so imperfect but that is what makes me, me! I am proud of my sense of humour. My awkward dorky sort of humour. I like my strength in the face of adversity! I am a video game nerd and bookworm and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I I am proud of my awkwardness in many social situations because I think it’s endearing. I often don’t know the right things to say, but dammit, I try! And if it comes out sounding weird and awkward, then so be it. That’s just part of who I am. It has taken me all of my life to be happy with who I am but I think I am finally getting there. I can look past my imperfect appearance and see the pretty awesome person who is inside. I’m not saying I don’t have annoying personality traits because, let’s be honest, we all do. But I think my positive traits far outweigh the negative.

I may not fit the 6’0”, 115 lbs, long luscious locks and bright blue eyes standard of beauty, but I’ll be damned if I’m not beautiful.