Friday, June 19, 2015

I Choose Beautiful

How many of you are familiar with the Dove Choose Beautiful Campaign?


This YouTube video was recently brought to my attention, and if you haven't seen it, you need to. As women, we sometimes devalue our beauty. As women, we tend to think of ourselves as "average" or "mediocre" or nothing "special." But the truth is, we are ALL special. We ALL have something to offer. We are all beautiful.


Yet, in the video, time after time, many women chose the "Average" door. Why? Because they didn't think they could call themselves beautiful? Or they didn't want to be judged off of other's perceptions? How often do we maybe "feel" beautiful but then think that others wouldn't label us as such?

                             
And why is that? Is it because there is a preconceived notion of what makes someone beautiful? Full lips, flawless skin, size 2 body? 


Of course not. Women are beautiful based on who they are, not how they look. Throughout history, women have made a difference. Women have spoken out for what they believe. Take Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl who stood up for education and was shot in the face by a member of the Taliban. One side of her face may now be disfigured, but she is BEAUTIFUL!  She is embracing the fact that she may never look the same, but she knows that her words are more important than her physical features. Her words can change the world, more so than her looks every could.


I recently read this book for book club and it was inspiring. As women, there are so many things we can do to make a difference. Sometimes even the smallest thing can help change the world. And that, my friends, is where our beauty lies. Not in the structure of our face or the shape of our bodies, but in the size of our hearts. 

So, the question is....

Which door would you choose?



On a side note, I made it to Round 3 of Query Kombat with my entry Life Sucks—I'm Stuck in Podunk. It started out as 64 Kombatants and we are now down to 16 of us which means only 8 match-ups left. The next round begins Monday! Wish me luck!

13 comments:

  1. Congratulations on round three!
    There are a lot of really pretty women who don't think of themselves as beautiful. My wife is one of them. I just keep telling her she's beautiful though.

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  2. Yay for round three! Congrats!

    I understand where you're coming from, that beauty isn't about appearances. I don't know if my personality is beautiful or not. I'm strict, polite (but not necessarily kind), and tolerant, though I'm hardly empathetic or sympathetic (so I wouldn't be considered a person with a large heart). I do my best to be my best me, and to me, that means doing all I can for my kids, my husband, my co-workers, and my friends. Not sure how to measure beauty that way.

    On the physical end, I struggle with believing I'm beautiful. If I put effort into my appearance, take time with my hair and makeup, then sure, I might strut through the door on the left. But on a normal, everyday scale, I'm on the right. I think my issues stem from my upbringing. I had glasses, braces, and not a single guy had any interest in me. That didn't matter so much. But then in high school, I went with a group of girls to a girl's choice dance, in which guys had all turned us down. As I got ready for the dance, my mom helped me curl my hair and put on make up. I looked at myself, and made the mistake of saying aloud, "wow, I'm pretty!" My mom compressed her lips and said, "I think I need to talk to you about vanity. You shouldn't be vain." I think it was at that point it lodged in my brain that it was bad to think I'm pretty.

    I make sure I tell my daughter she's beautiful as often as I can.

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  3. Congrats on getting to round three. I am still cheering for you from the sidelines. Can you hear me? Listen closely. Ready? (Goooooo, Kristin!!!!!!!) ;)

    Your post was very inspiring. I have written a few articles about how we are all beautiful, especially with our flaws and differences. I had a contract for them but they were never published. Sometime I should share them.

    By the way, I love the look of your blog and your new author photo is gorgeous!

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  4. Aw, the video made me teary-eyed! Especially the mother pulling her daughter through the beautiful door. Go, Mom! And go you! You are one tough Kombatant to beat! =)

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  5. Loved that video, and yay for round three!!! That's awesome :)

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  6. That's great that you've made it to round three. Good luck!

    That is a great campaign. Self-image is so important. It's too easy to judge ourselves based on what we think society wants us to look like.

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  7. Good luck.

    Perhaps we shouldn't be striving for beautiful. That's just an outward construct, really. It's more important to be comfortable in our own skin.

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  8. Such an amazing campaign, honestly. It may sound awful but I've always been confident and felt beautiful...I think it's a feeling more than anything. It's definitely not about looks but about inner confidence :) and CONGRATS!!!!!!!! I am SO thrilled you're in round 3! Rooting for you all the way!

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  9. I had to go read it. You rocked that! That was totally awesome. You should totally let me beta read that story.

    We need to start thinking like men. Men aren't half as obsessed with looks as women are. I'm going to use the plethora of women's beauty magazines vs. the very few men's mags as my evidence. Men aren't as weight obsessed either. I feel like we women put the pressure and on each other and ourselves.

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  10. Yay! for round three! I wouldn't choose beautiful for myself but if its someone else I will always encourage to choose beautiful!

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  11. Average for sure...but we should all walk through that beautiful door!

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  12. Where's the handsome door? I'll also accept the "smarty-pants" door as well;)

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  13. Such great thoughts. I think this applies to so much more than beauty. We measure ourselves in every aspect of life and it would do all of us good to be a little more optimistic about how we're doing, eh?

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