I am one of those young ladies that’s so keen on worrying about how I look, what to wear, my hair style, shoes, etc and I ache to have all those things fixed.
I watch my mother dance her eyes about every dress I wear, always ready to tell which skirt held too tightly or which blouse showed too much skin and my sisters wave their fingers at me when I insist on some sort of fashion they consider lewd.
Today, I might be totally confident and beautiful, perhaps because more men have stared and more ladies have given me the traditional attitude arising from jealousy- while the next day, I wouldn’t feel like getting up from the warm covers of my bed.
But luckily, these days of self inadequacy are becoming few, thinning with my increased thirst for new knowledge because I am grasping the little threads of life in a different way.
We live in an era were society has wired our brain into dimensions it deemed fit. To think we’re not beautiful enough or we have to be a certain size, shape, height and complexion in order to be considered beautiful is a topical illustration of self inflicted inadequacy.
Because the models on E! are versions of the truths men are easier to deal with, we have chosen to trim ourselves to these versions of the truth and not as we’re supposed to, create our own truths.
This is wrong and you still exist in yesterday if you cradle such narrow mentality in your palms only because the society’s definition of beauty is skewed.
We spend extreme amounts a year trying to look beautiful in ways only we have been taught beauty is and we’re unwilling to love ourselves, we want to see someone else in the mirror, someone with a better pivoted nose that makes selfie’s a lot attractive and because fewer men tap at our doors and fewer girls ask what dress we’re wearing or compliment our makeup, it leaves us unsettled alongside unhappy.
It is true however, that not only humans but everything is beautiful. There is a magical perfection to the things created by God but only few can really see it.
Beauty isn’t a matter of cosmetics, nails, hair, creams and make up. But beauty is more about you. There is so much to beauty like character, confidence, strength, a large heart and a good job.
Beauty is the ability to carry love, the ability to inspire others, regard for others from your purse and contributing your lot to better the life of others.
Beauty is all about the soul of a person.
Develop those traits; stop adhering to the world’s definition of beauty and start creating your own style.
We need to learn to embrace ourselves, stand up for what we believe in, share with the world because when we’re old and our bodies get wrinkled, these little facets are all that would remain. The character you’ve built over time and the lives you’ve affected.
So today, whatever is your definition of beauty, don’t ever, ever be ashamed of it, own it, sell it, share it and wear it proudly because beauty is evidently in the world and we only need to take off our judgmental glasses to see it.
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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija
