What is Beautiful?
This is the question that has been on my mind quite often lately as I've been (ever so slowly) getting to know my roommates of the past three months.
It was a Friday night, and I was in one of my hermit moods and decided to spend the evening in my room reading and doing my own thing. The girls I live with have been friends for a few years, and I often hear them in the kitchen or hallway talking about whatever is going on in their lives. (As a side note, I promise I'm not creepy. I don't go into my room with a box of cookies with the hope that I can overhear some juicy conversation. But when your roommates talk as loudly and as animatedly as mine do, you can't help but turn the music down just to hear just what is causing so much drama.) The point is, that night as I was enjoying some "me time" I overheard a conversation that really caused me to stop and think.
They were in one girl's room and I heard one of them say, "I just don't know if I can go looking like this in a bikini with all of those other girls! My body doesn't look like that!" Another girl replied by saying, "Don't worry, I'll be there and I'll make you look really good!" And over the course of the next few minutes, they proceeded to try to encourage each other by putting themselves down and talking about everything they disliked about their bodies. The saddest part about all of this is, these girls are all absolutely beautiful. They all spend several hours a week at the gym, eating healthy food, and they all lead very active, productive lives. These girls spend all this time trying to improve their image and yet they are still not satisfied with the product.
There's been a video going around that was produced by Dove. I highly recommend watching it. These women all described the negative qualities of their appearance as if those were the things that defined them. As others described them, it painted a much more beautiful, and most importantly, ACCURATE, picture of who they were.
When did putting yourself down become acceptable? Has this been the trend for women since the beginning of time?
Now, I'm no prime example of self-confidence by any means. I'll admit that as I look in the mirror I constantly think about how I wish my face didn't have so many irregularities, or that my nose was a little smaller and less bulbous. I can't tell you how often I wish my eyelashes were longer and thicker.
But as I was listening to my roommates putting themselves down like this, I couldn't help but be grateful that I've been raised to know that I'm beautiful in the sight of my Heavenly Father and THAT is what matters more than anything else. He created us in His image. And I need to remind myself that the more I focus on that aspect, and the more I focus on my inner qualities, the more that will shine through and everyone else will see that. I hope that now, as I look in the mirror, I will try my best to see the beautiful and to remind myself that He loves me and wants me to be happy with who I am. Because the spirit of God is what really makes a person beautiful.
