Before anything, I promise you, this is not what you are expecting. I know you’ve heard things a million times like, you don’t have to be pretty to find love, or the classic looks don’t matter, and even you don’t need to impress anybody with your beauty. You’ve probably even said these things to friends once or twice to boost their confidence, but these are just empty phrases. You hear them, but don’t always believe them. Because deep down inside, we all have an insatiable need to feel pretty.
We lavish in those moments in which we feel on top of the world. Feeling pretty does not necessarily mean you look like you just stepped off of the red carpet (although it could!), it is that feeling you get when you perform in your first production, that moment when you win the game for your team, it is the moment you start making progress towards your goals.
Prettiness to me is an outward expression of an inward happiness. I can finish a kickboxing class, dripping in sweat with my hair frizzing out of its ponytail, and feel like the most beautiful girl in the world. That inner satisfaction of accomplishing something that makes me happy brings out a certain glow. Maybe it is confidence or maybe it is joy. Regardless of what it is, those are the moments that I feel the prettiest.
It took me a long time to discover where beauty stems from and am just now beginning to believe this in my everyday life. The more I go out and do what makes me happy, the more confident and pretty I feel. It is replacing those negative thoughts about what you’re not, and replacing them with all of the wonder and beauty that you are. As opposed to knocking yourself down for not having perfect hair or your ideal body type, celebrate the fact that you are really good at your major, or maybe even that you can paint your nails with your non-dominant hand.
And as I sit in my dorm room writing to you, I feel pretty. Not because anything has changed with how I look, but because of the hope that someone will stumble upon this article and realize just what makes them so beautiful.