It took me a long time to be satisfied with how I looked. I never thought I was ugly really, but not extraordinary.
I’m short (5’5″), not exactly thin, have zero fashion sense, and don’t really have any standout features. In high school, it made me really sad and even though that was my skinny time, I still thought I needed to lose, “just 5 more pounds.” Thankfully, I liked food too much, so I maintained a healthy weight. ;-)
As a teenager, being average was so frustrating. I couldn’t figure out why I hadn’t gotten lucky like the movie stars and the models. Now I know why…it’s all fake!
Are there people who are naturally beautiful? Of course, but a lot of what we see is smoke and mirrors, which sets up an unrealistic expectation for ourselves. This is something I really discovered when I found the liquify tool in photoshop, fyi.
So, the point? Embrace yourself for your own type of beauty! You’ve got to believe it for others to see it. People who have confidence radiate beauty – and it really is the truth, not a message from an afterschool special. ;-)
It’s funny– I was just talking about the flip side of this coin with my husband. I mentioned that someone on AW complained that all characters in books are pretty and it’s not realistic. Then we tried for half an hour to think of someone we knew IRL that we thought was really, truly ugly– and couldn’t do it.
I won’t wax philosophic about what that means, but I thought it was interesting.
I’m bored, we can talk philosophy. lol
I think it’s because no one sees themselves as really pretty, but we are capable of seeing the beauty in other people. It always amazed me at how self-loathing some of the girls were that I thought were gorgeous! I would wager that many of the movie stars/models don’t think as highly of their looks as they probably should. Heck, a lot of them have eating disorders, so that’s saying something.
And my character is cute, but has a hairy upper lip. Maybe that will make that AW poster happy? lol
What a great video! And I don’t think anyone is ever really happy with their self. Sad, isn’t it. I was 100lbs in hs and I hated the way I looked.