Live From The Inside Out

Live From The Inside Out

It’s difficult to feel beautiful when our society bombards us with messages that beauty means "looking" like a model. The standards of beauty have shifted so far that we no longer feel beautiful unless we are a size 0, inject ourselves with botox, wear $400 shoes, and exist on a diet of lettuce and diet coke.

How many women actually look like those fashion models? And why would we bother trying? Most of the time it appears these fashion models are painfully unhappy. They often suffer from severe eating disorders, low self-esteem, and drug and alcohol addiction. So what are we really idealizing?

When we fall into the trap of believing that we must look a certain way to feel good about ourselves, we invalidate our natural beauty and disrespect the diversity inherent in women of all shapes, sizes, colors and ages.

But it is up to us to change this. Otherwise we are stuck defining ourselves according to superficial, external, unattainable, shallow standards. Don’t we want more for ourselves than to just admire the size of our waist or our thighs? Our bodies are inevitably going to change as we age. Are we really going to be sitting in our rocking chair in the final stage of our life feeling proud about how strictly we dieted so we could wear a size 0? Are we going to admire ourselves for missing out on social activities because we felt “too fat” that day? Are we going to feel proud of ourselves for only focusing on trying to change our appearance that we forgot we had the opportunity to change the world?

I think it's time for all of us women to be "sick of it" and start embracing and celebrating our inner selves. Each one of us has something wonderful and meaningful to offer. But it’s up to us to believe it and to break free of the beliefs that are holding us down.

We were not born to fit in; we were born to be brilliant; like a diamond. Each one of us slightly different, slightly imperfect, but extraordinarily brilliant and precious.

If we decide to live our life with a deliberate purpose; live with clarity and intention; live by design, and live from the inside out, we will undeniably overcome our limiting beliefs and realize the potential of our true selves.

with real beauty,
xo Lori

www.realbeautyis.com