Finding the Beauty in You

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Beauty standards for women have tremendously changed throughout time and history. From porcelain skin, arched brows, red lips, and high hairline in the 16th century to symmetrical face, fair skin, narrow waist, and curvy figure in today's society. However, these unrealistic beauty standards stop us from loving and becoming ourselves. Nobody is perfect, and we all have flaws. Don't hate yourself for being fat, having blemishes and acne, dark skin, body hair, teeth gap, scars, etc. Because those flaws make you special and make you "you."

Media, especially social media, portrays these beauty standards heavily as well. Since society is heavily influenced by what we see in the media, it causes women to look like and be like what people expect them to. For this reason, there are times that social media becomes more toxic than helpful. But you have to remember that not everything you see on social media is real. So please don't scroll through your feed for hours comparing yourself to those "Instagram models" and "perfect" girls.

People even go beyond the lengths to achieve the standards people have for them. They go from losing weight to undergoing plastic surgery. I mean, it's not bad if you want to change or improve a specific feature of yourself, but it is bad if you're doing it for someone else. You don't have to change to make someone like you. Because once you do so, you will continually change for someone else, and you'll never notice that you're already losing yourself. A person who genuinely likes you will like you for being you. If they don't like you for how you are now, then that means that they don't deserve you.

Being insecure about something is normal because I've been through that phase plenty of times, but you need to learn how to deal with it. Don't let those insecurities consume you. Accepting your flaws and loving yourself will help rather than blaming yourself for the things you don't have and should have. 

One thing I realized is that no matter how many people around you tell you, "You are beautiful and more than enough," you will never accept it unless you accept it yourself. Seeing and finding the beauty in you is not a journey you will be able to finish overnight. It takes time and effort and a generous amount of trust in yourself.

Remember that you don't have to be fit these unrealistic standards just to be considered beautiful because you already are. You are beautiful in your very own unique way; trust me on that. However, I can say every motivational and inspirational quote out there, but at the end of the day, what you tell yourself is what matters the most. So chin up, your crown is slipping.

People often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing you are the beholder.

-Salma Hayek
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