Hey you.

Yeah, you.

I know you’re stressing today because you didn’t have time to put on makeup. You just threw your hair back into a ponytail, because you were rushing out the door and didn’t have time to heat up the flat iron.

I know that you gave yourself a cursory glance in the mirror in the bathroom and let out a sigh because you don’t have time to cover up the little creases under your eyes from not getting enough sleep.

I know that you let out a frustrated grunt when you were going through your clothes to find something to wear that didn’t make you feel fat or frumpy. I know that the inch and a half of roots you haven’t had time to get touched up are driving you absolutely crazy and on some particularly low self-esteem days you just wish that you could hide and not have to go out in public.

But you can’t—there are errands to run and jobs to do, and kids to pick up and meetings to attend.

You can’t just sit there and hide because you don’t look like you fell out of a magazine all the time. And besides, no one is really that beautiful in real life anyway, are they?

Well I am here to tell you that you are.

In all your messy-haired, makeup-less, yoga pants glory, you are beautiful.

Right now you are beautiful. The smile that curls the upper part of your lip when your child does something that makes you proud, the way that you tuck your hair behind your ear when you are nervous, the look you get when you tell someone else about something that excites you.

That is beauty…all of it.

Beauty isn’t a set of mathematical equations that equate to perfect facial symmetry or a certain style of bone structure.

The asymmetry in you, your uniqueness, your quirky laugh, your slightly dimpled cheeks, the things that you have that no one else has quite like you do; there is more beauty in that than in a mathematically perfect clone. Also, your strength and grace in difficult situations, your loyalty, your friendship, and your empathy—don’t discount those things.

They may not appear on the scale or in the mirror, but they add to the whole.

Every laugh line that you’ve earned is more beautiful than a face without imperfection, since each shows a gentle knowing of life and its many blessings and joys. Your experiences and your contribution, your uniqueness and your strength, your love and your honor: the metrics we can’t measure certainly equate to a beauty far beyond skin deep.

So the next time you run out the door with sweats on and a messy bun, don’t forget to stop and look into the mirror. Don’t just glance and sigh, but really look deep into your own eyes—the eyes that have looked back at so many lovingly, that have witnessed both trials and successes, both tribulations and deepest joy—and don’t forget to accept and honor the amazing being that you are.

Really see your beauty, don’t wish to change it—for it is there, as it has always been, just waiting for you to recognize how magnificent you already are.

 

Relephant: 

Women: I can’t call you Beautiful, because it’s not Enough.

 

 

Author: Alexis Lawson

Editor: Renée Picard

Photo: via the author 

 
 

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