Young and Beautiful

“Consider the fact that maybe…just maybe…beauty and worth aren’t found in a makeup bottle, or a salon-fresh hairstyle, or a fabulous outfit. Maybe our sparkle comes from somewhere deeper inside, somewhere so pure and authentic and REAL, it doesn’t need gloss or polish or glitter to shine.” 
~ Mandy Hale, The Single Woman: Life, Love and a Dash of Sass 

Sometimes I wonder why society places such an importance on looks... on outer beauty, the main acts of media-raves pertaining to humanitarian acts often credited to these plasticy, Hollywood-tainted celebrities with unachievable beauty who's acts of charity or whatever were most likely strategically planned primarily to instigate a rush of media attention. Who am I to judge though? I suppose not all celebrities, however tainted with egotistical point of views are quite as shallow... or are they. Sometimes I can't help but wonder though. Although, I most certainly don't mean to judge anyone... who am I to claim of knowing just what's in the heart of my fellow man? After all, I'm not God. But then. I just can't help but wonder... the money these idols of beauty and glamour dish out daily on their appearance especially. 

Why? Why do young women think that they have to look and be a certain way. I often sit and think about this... ponder on just why beauty has become such an infectious obsession with all of us women (me included). Why do we dish out thousands of dollars a year on cosmetics... some even indulge in surgeries to alter this and that. I'll never understand. My mom's always told me "Remember, all of the beauty you have... God has given you." and it's true. So, why do we take such pride in the glorification that we ourselves did not create? Why do we take credit for it like it's something we did? I think, the only beauty that we are truly capable of yielding comes from within us. It's the beauty of caring for and treating people with love... with acts of charity and yet, with all this obsession towards beauty, has become lost, buried by piles of powdery cosmetics, lipsticks, magazines, etc., that society has yielded our way. 

To me, it's like placing all of the focus on the cover of a book. It's like spending countless hours adorning a book cover, only to fill it with blankness. The soul is a beauty that has been, like the pages of a book, faded by the placements of importance on the outward appearance... a focus on the cover of a book that distracts one from the literary beauty within, the loveliness that bellows from within the heart of those dusty pages. 

“Boys think girls are like books, If the cover doesn't catch their eye they won't bother to read what's inside".” 

~ Marilyn Monroe

Ah! I recall the days of my youth... the days when I'd felt beyond certain that the only way one could merit love, in other words, find that perfect soulmate was if you were beautiful on the outside. I used to think I had to be so beautiful to deserve such a beautiful gift. A miscalculation on my part, that is... a miscalculation that steered me to forget the importance of being beautiful within as well. I think that perhaps I sought my self-worth between the aisles of drugstores, scoring the shelves for those perfect cosmetics.

I wish the importance of outer perfection weren't such an issue in today's society. Beauty ages... and my mom has always reminded me "you're skin's just going to rot in the end"... I suppose in that case outer beauty is far from mortal. After all, no matter how hard we try and fight it, we will grow old... we will become creased with lines of age, wrinkles, and we WILL in fact be laid to rest countless feet below the ground... only to disintegrate into nothing but bones. Inner beauty, however... that's something that will never fade. It will live on and on... kindness can affect so many hearts in such a positive manner, far more positive than most of us realize! Even the simplest act of kindness can leave an everlasting impression on one's fellow man... and too me, that's something far more important than the skin deep form of beauty that most sought for. 

And when the world begins to see the importance of inner beauty, of lovingness and kindness and it's vitality in opposition to that superficial beauty most desire, it'll be an incredibly beautiful place. So, let's start one at a time! Little by little. Each of us! One act of kindness a day. So, channel that beauty the glows from within, the true beauty that your person has to offer and depict an example of the love and kindness you are capable of giving! I suppose... in other words, let go of those cosmetics and reach out both hands to better the well-being of others. Don't allow yourself to become corrupt by the desire for superficial beauty, the beauty that fades with age, instead, strive to give love to those in need, after all... the beauty of love has far more substance than long eyelashes, pouty lips and the perfect measurements. 

Make it so your beauty still shines through, even despite the withering of old age.

“The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole, but true beauty in a Woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she knows.” 

~Audrey Hepburn

~ Erin <3 xoxoxo