Yeah right. All I can say to these people is, who are you kidding? Maybe someone can be beautiful on the inside, if who they are trying to please likes that kind of personality, or shares the same interests. But on the whole I would say on the inside we are all abstract and weird, misshapen and frail. This isn't so much a bad thing, I am not trying to say we are all weirdo's and are messed up in some way. I am just trying to say that we are all different and because there is so much less pressure put on our personality than our looks, that is OK.
However when appearance becomes involved it is a whole different story. I, just like everyone else in the world, desperately seek acceptance. Most of us dress up, cake our faces with makeup, hit the gym and diet all just in the hope that one day someone will comment on how nice we look, have we lost weight etc. Those who do none of those things are the people who gave up a long time ago, and those who say they never were like that, you aren't fooling anyone. Every single one of us gets that lovely feeling deep down inside, the warmth that you can physically feel, when someone compliments you. Then you go home and look in the mirror and think, maybe they're right. After that we allow ourselves a tiny moment of self worth. This lasts only until the next time you look at yourself in the mirror. The next time you look you think, I haven't lost weight, what am I wearing? I look awful today. We bombard ourselves with self destructive comments that eat away at our ego. We watch films with beautiful women and think, I could never ever be like that. Every day we wish to be more than we are, but already know that we can never be more than what is right there in front of us. Sure, we can lose a few pounds here and there, spend a fortune on a new dress that only gets worn once or twice, but in the end it comes back down to the same fact. We all want to be told we are beautiful.
I am one of these people. Now when having my weight guessed this weekend by someone close to me, and they suggest 15 stone, I suddenly realised how the world sees me. I wont say how much I do weigh, but I will say it is less than 15 stone, and as any woman, and probably man too, knows that when someone thinks you are heavier than you are, that screams one thing: FAT.
I have never been good at taking my own advice. I was going to use this post to make a comment about real women, and about how beautiful every single one of us is. But I wouldn't take that on board myself. I do however want to start an exercise and I urge anyone who reads this, man or woman, to take part. I want to create a post telling the world how beautiful we are. Post anonymously if you want, that's fine. But tell me, what is the one thing you like best about yourself?
I'll start. I love my eyes and my eyelashes.
And then, just to brighten someone else's life that little bit, send your best friend a compliment, or next time you see someone tell them something you like about what they're wearing, or how they have done their hair.
