Beauty.
It’s a fleeting, fickle thing, isn’t it?
We consider it, measure it, weigh it, worry about it, dismiss it, obsess over it.
Whether we admit it or not, at some point in our lives we have spent time thinking about beauty. Maybe you were told you were beautiful as a child or teen but never believed it. Maybe you worried you would never feel it. Maybe you think your beauty has been lost to years that added up too quickly.
What a shame.
We are all beautiful. We just can’t see it.
When we are young and beautiful, we refuse to believe it.
These are the years we can barely stand to look in a mirror, yet can scarcely tear ourselves away. We try desperately to see how the girl in the mirror could ever grow up, could ever have grace. We do not see the glow of our skin, the smoothness of our bodies, or the shine in our hair.
When we are racing at a breakneck pace towards the middle of our lives, hauling busy schedules and perhaps children along with us, we refuse to believe it.
How could we? We are fighting Mother Nature, we are battling for the bodies we used to have, or we are resigning ourselves to what we think we are destined to look like. We work out, we buy skincare potions, we watch for greys. We forget how appealing our strength is, our courage, and how beautiful motherhood is. We do not see our wit, our confidence and our still-beautiful bodies as being worthy.
When lines trace every laugh, every smile and the odd furrow tells of heartbreak, we refuse to believe it.
We think our beauty days are behind us. We look back on many decades of good living and then gaze in the mirror at what the years have done. We imagine we can see the beauty we left behind in our teens – but we forget that in our teens we cursed the mirror. We forget that there is nothing more beautiful than a life lived well, and love shared generously with those around us. We don’t see our grace, our wisdom to be as precious as they surely are.
What a loss.
There is something amazing that happens when we see ourselves with a forgiving and gentle eye, and regard others in the same way. Imagine if you let go of your worries and started really seeing what other people see?
Maybe it’s not the colour of our hair, our eyes, or how generous our curves. Maybe beauty has nothing to do with what the media tells us. Maybe we need to listen to those around us, and truly hear the compliments that come our way. There are people in our lives who think we are beautiful, right now, today, just as we are. Maybe we don’t get any younger, but maybe beauty doesn’t have anything to do with youth.
What a revelation.
What if we are all beautiful, at any age, every day?
Maybe it’s the sparkle in our eye. Maybe our nose wrinkles when we laugh. Maybe we have a smile that brightens the days of others. Maybe when we speak, we move people’s hearts and minds. Maybe our sideways glance can make those around us dissolve into laughter. Maybe with a look we can make someone’s heart skip a beat.
Maybe we have as much or more to offer as we ever did.
Maybe today we should look in a mirror, leave our worries behind and see our true beauty.
Maybe we’ve been beautiful all along.
How long will you wait before you see it?
Make today the day you see yourself. Find something you love about yourself today. And tomorrow. And the day after.
What makes you beautiful? It’s time to own it.
Will you? Will you share something you love about yourself in the comments below?
Maybe it will move others to see themselves too.
