Several years ago I was working one night at my retail job when a woman, a customer, came in. I did that thing that we as women, as humans, sometimes do. I judged her. I looked her over and I placed value on her by how she looked. I remember thinking that she was was the ugliest woman I’d ever seen.
I know, I’m not proud of that thought or that judgement but I’m not perfect and I learned a very important lesson that day.
That woman changed my mind within seconds.
She smiled. She smiled and she looked happy and kind and radiant and beautiful. I don’t know what it was about her but she glowed and I remember thinking, “I want to be like that. I want to light up the room like that.” That moment completely changed my perception of what beauty was. It’s not a collection of symmetrical features arranged in a pleasant manner, it’s a light that comes from inside that you allow to shine outward. You give it permission to flow from you. It’s a beautiful collision of happiness and confidence and comfortableness inside of your own skin.
We can choose to be beautiful.
We can also choose to change the standard of beauty around us. We have the power to recognize the beauty, all types of beauty, around us. Or we can be blind to it if we want, if we choose to. It’s still a choice. To be beautiful and to see beauty.
I wanted to share this uber inspirational video from Lizzie Velásquez, once dubbed the World’s Ugliest Woman. I love her words, her attitude, and her fighting spirit, and I hope you will too!
I've seen her (videos) before and I always think she is beautiful. I actually used to very much be like her. I could never gain past 90 lbs until about my late twenties. Now I'm about twice that weight and hate it even more, which is kind of ironic since I *thought* I was dog ugly when I was very thin. It has been ten years since my body changed dramatically to the other direction and I still work to accept it, but at least I'm working. ;-)