Most people know by now that I want everyone to be comfortable in their own skin. To believe that they are beautiful with all their imperfections, because they’re not imperfections at all. Forget society telling us we have to be a size two and do yoga everyday and drink kale smoothies (yuck).
But we’re still focused very much so on our outward appearance.
When someone compliment a little girl, they’ll probably tell her how cute and adorable she is. Not how smart she is for loving science or how courageous she is for playing with the boys, but cute.
When that girl grows up, the compliments will change from cute to beautiful to sexy. Even if she’s brilliant, her looks will come first.
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When I was applying to colleges, I was enthralled by biology. I had taken anatomy my senior year of high school, and been captivated. I loved learning about the human body, how it worked and functioned, and how everything had it’s place. I even loved dissection, because my knowledge was that much more real. Naturally, I thought I should study biology in college and eventually travel to medical school to pursue my love of science full time.
So I did. I was determined to become a doctor so that I could travel the world with Doctors without Borders, blessed to save lives. After my first year, I went home for the summer to work, and relayed all of this information to someone I looked up to, how excited I was to make a difference in the world. His response was, “Why would you put in all that hard work? You can do just fine on your looks alone”. YES HE REALLY SAID THAT TO MY FACE. I was infuriated. A 19 year old girl has the desire to study medicine to save lives and someone discourages her because she’s too pretty??
My best friend faces the same things. She’s studying mechanical engineering, and she’s brilliant. In her intro classes, no one wanted to work with her because they thought she wouldn’t be smart enough to handle the work load, that she would bring down their grades. Yeah, she’s beautiful, but since when are the two correlated? More beauty= less brains? More brains=less beauty? It’s literally reinforcing that women are supposed to be beautiful instead of brilliant. That’s crazy.
I guess the purpose of this story telling rant is that we, as women, need to be comfortable with our successes. You may not think you’re beautiful (you’re wrong already), but you are good at many many things, and you need to recognize it.
Maybe you’re an introvert who’s gifted at writing, then become an author. You’re an adrenaline junkie who loves to travel, become a skydiving instructor in New Zealand. You’re incredibly kind and loving, so volunteer at an orphanage.
I want to be remembered for my heart, not my looks. Chances are you do too. Don’t let society change that. Be beautiful, be kind, but most of all, be YOU.
