We have all been there. You have red spots around your nose and you cover them up. You hate the way you look in glasses, so you wear contacts, ONLY contacts. You can’t stand the thought of going in public without make-up. You wish you could change something about the way you look. Well, it’s time to stop putting yourself down!
I’m going to tell you a story. I used to be a dork when I was younger. I was very short (shorter than I am now), chubby, and had the classic glasses and braces combo. I was extremely shy and didn’t have that many friends. I didn’t have a high self-esteem because of what I looked like. In sixth grade I went through a growth spurt and lost some of the baby fat, but I still had glasses and braces. I finally got my braces off in eighth grade after having them for five years. The end of ninth grade was the time that really changed. I got contacts and a new hair-cut. Bangs! Around the same time, I learned how to use make-up. Tenth grade was the year I started to wear make-up on a daily basis to school. I loved eye make-up. It was the only thing I wore and I never wore my glasses because I thought it would distract people from seeing the pretty make-up on my eyes. In my later years of high school I experimented with different make-up looks. I’d spend at least half an hour every morning on my make-up and my hair to make sure it looked perfect.
I gradually came out of my shy shell in eleventh grade. I wasn’t as shy as I used to be and I had more courage to talk to people. I made more friends and spoke often in classes. I had way more self-confidence talking in front of the whole class because I thought I was prettier and I didn’t mind bringing attention to myself. At the time I owed it to the fact I looked beautiful after I was all done up.
However, I admit I had some sort of problem in high school. I couldn’t go anywhere without at least some make-up on and my hair fixed with my bangs hanging perfectly in front of my face. Even going out to the store on a Saturday I had to fix myself up a little but, just in case I ran into someone I knew from school. I didn’t want anyone to see me like the way I looked in my dorky middle and elementary school years. I had a fear if someone saw me, I would be judged.
Now that I’m in college, I have no fear of judgment. One reason was because I slowly started to stop caring what other people thought of me. It took a lot of maturing to get to that point. The other reason was because I finally learned that I was beautiful without any make-up. It took a lot of repeated reassurances from friends (and my lovely boyfriend) that I didn’t need make-up to look beautiful. It helped me realize that I was indeed pretty with a natural face and glasses. After I finally accepted how I looked naturally, I started to walk around campus in just sweats and no make-up. I discovered I wasn’t treated any differently than if I was normally dressed and made up.
The moral of this story? Well, I don’t want to lecture you. But everyone does through that awkward adolescent phase. Sometimes it changes you, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it changes you for the better, or for the worse. I was changed for the better and grew up to be a woman, a woman who doesn’t care what other people think of her. Yes, make-up is used to make people look prettier. But don’t use it to make other people like your appearance. Use it for yourself. Make-up is an accessory to add to your outfit; it reflects your mood or your personality. But you don’t always need to have make-up to show people who you really are.
Now maybe you should try. Go out there not caring what you look like! You’re in college, if you’re too lazy to get dressed then just go out there in sweats! Don’t worry about how you look. Don’t let people judge you based solely on your looks; it’s your personality that counts.