Faith in the Mirror

How do you feel beautiful in a society that paints a picture of outward beauty that few can match?

How do we teach our young people, specifically our young girls to believe in their dreams and in themselves when society throws Heidi Klum at you? When advertisements show rail stick women in their push up bras and flawless skin?

For countless reasons, I once fell into the "I'm ugly and have zero, zip, zilch worth" category and stayed there for many years. One day I finally fit into the size 2 jeans and I wasn't happy, I wasn't involved in a solid relationship, I was in an abusive relationship by the guy I was seeing at the time and praying for death pretty much daily, as well as dying a slow death from the inside out while my abuser ripped me in half on every  level  known to womankind.

After 6 years of living hell and eventual healing, a healing I thought would kill me slower than being abused, I finally realized just before my 40th birthday last year, society wasn't going to dictate my life, my faith in myself or how I felt about myself and how I looked.  I decided, in looking back over my life, in the mistakes I had made, in the friends and lovers I had chosen, I decided to have faith when I looked in the mirror. Faith that I mattered, that I was  beautiful, was just as worthy of life's very best, whether I had eighty dollars in the bank or 80M dollars in the bank.

I decided I would offer my experiences to the young people and teach them what healthy self esteem is, why healthy self esteem is a must for a long and healthy life. That's what I do now. Every chance I get I remind a young person, young girls especially, physical beauty can be airbrushed, a camera lens can be focused up or down, a make-up artist can hide the flaws. I remind them the real beauty is in person they are from inside.

I see it so many times when a young woman voices her opinion and says "No, I don't watch Girls Next Door" and the immediate reaction is "You're jealous because you don't look like Holly." Well, my dear friends, from the little I've seen, Holly looks 40, her 82 year old boyfriend just dumped her, and is now dating 19 year old twin sisters, which is just disgusting on so many levels, so let me ask you? Is Holly something to envy? Her money didn't keep the man, didn't stop her heart from being broken. So really how lucky is she?

What about you? What do you do to encourage young people to believe in who they are without asking them to change who they are to fit society and the standards setforth?

One smile, one kind word, one minute to make a difference. Why not try it.