You are beautiful – believe it!

Are you beautiful? What is being beautiful? Do you see beauty in yourself or other people? I think when being asked these questions I’d say yes to all of them.

I have engaged in conversations with young women who don’t think they are beautiful and always asked myself why they would think like that. How true is the statement “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”?

Quite frankly, I’m not even sure what the statement means. Maybe it means that beauty is determined by the eyes of the person who is looking. Then if that is the case, we should all say we are beautiful because we like what we see in the mirror. But I’ve lived to realise that is not the case.

I’m one of the people who grew up with serious beauty issues – I just was never satisfied with what I saw in the mirror. I guess maybe I was lacking self-confidence. I think, had I been free from doubt I would’ve have long realised just how beautiful I am.

I think we are all beautiful because we are different and unique – what you see in me you might not see in someone else. The biggest problem that makes people succumb to peer pressure is because we want to look alike and we think being different is wrong – when it’s not.

I remember how I hated my forehead, my lower lip and my big eyes – and this caused issues. I had no self-confidence at all. Because I wanted to stand out from the crowd at high school, Maria Louw High School, I used to be so mean to the other pupils.

There was a girl by the name of Andisiwe that I envied so much. She was just beautiful – she rocked every hair style she had. Yho! I always thought there was just no topping her beauty.

But I realised that my problems with myself were never going to go away because how I was is how I was created and meant to look like. So I had to find a way to deal with me. I needed to find a remedy for myself.

I looked up the definition of beautiful. It said:

 beau·ti·ful

 Adjective

1.       Pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically.

2.       Of a very high standard; excellent.

Yho! It is that day that I realised just how beautiful I am. I pleased my eyes when I looked in the mirror. I pleased my ears when I uttered my beautiful voice. Most importantly I pleased my confidence, because then I knew my strengths and my weaknesses. I can now even pout freely.

I’ve also learnt that our achievements also boost up our confidence – big or small.

I recently watched the Dove Real Beauty Sketch advert and it really touched my heart – how women described themselves so ugly. It brought to my attention the need of motivating young girls to always believe in themselves.

To all the young girls that indulge in my work. I’d love to tell you right now that you are beautiful. The smile you possess makes the world a place filled with love. Treasure yourself and people will treat you like royalty – because you are.

Smile now, you’re beautiful!