Chasing Beauty-The Ugly Truth

 

Recently I have found myself reflecting on life, and this chase for beauty, with which we, as a society, are obsessed and enamored. I must admit, I have fallen victim to the mindset that says, “ If you do this, you will be happy. If you change that, you will feel beautiful.” Fortunately, I have learned that is the farthest thing from truth!

At first it was my teeth: if I could just fix that gap and and those crooked bottom teeth, I would feel so much prettier.  But once those were fixed, my obsession became my hair, then my body, then my skin, and that stupid mole on the side of my nose that I could see when I looked straight ahead that needed to go away! So, I fixed those thing’s that were making me feel, “not pretty,” only to find more thing’s about myself I didn’t like. Ugh, there is always something! There will always be something!

I was focused on my exterior and obsessed with getting it fixed. This mindset is a dangerous and unhealthy road! It led me to feeling empty and unsatisfied every time. Take away the makeup, the Botox, the skincare and I was still left with me. These feelings of dissatisfaction and emptiness prompted many questions: Who am I?  Who is the unique person that God created me to be? What about my character makes me a truly beautiful person?  These were challenging questions for me to navigate through, especially since I have chosen the beauty industry as my profession.

I wish I could say to you all that I am 100% cured from body and self-image issues. I am not; it is a daily battle to choose a different perspective when I am getting ready in the morning. I love the beauty world (that’s why I blog about it), but it’s what I do, not who I am. There is far, far more to beauty than MAC, Bobbi Brown, and NARS. There is something beautiful to be found in each one of us. My tag line for this beauty blog is, “Beauty is Not Just Skin Deep.” It couldn’t be closer to the truth.

Chase life instead, and enjoy beautiful things along the way.

By: Kendra Stanton