‘Beautiful’ Is Just A String Of Letters, Not Your Identity

They have been lying to you. In books, in movies, on television, in fashion magazines, they have been lying to you and I don’t blame you for believing them. Because it is everywhere. Everywhere you look people telling you that you can be more beautiful, you can look better if you just tried hard enough, wore the right clothes, got the right make up, smiled a little more, changed yourself just here and there just enough to be what is an acceptable standard of beauty, just enough to not be you anymore.

So here, I’ll say it. Forget that. Don’t be beautiful. No matter what anyone says about your appearance, you do not need to change yourself to be beautiful in any way. Because what is beautiful but a string of letters put together to make a word? We give it power because we want to, and honestly? There are at least a hundred other things you can be, you should want to be other than beautiful.

Be wild. Be the kind of person who is such a free spirit that it would take an army to cage your soul. Take chances on things and travel to the ends of the earth if that is what you need, but be wild instead of beautiful.

Be intelligent. Read every book out there, join every academic discussion, write literature, write science papers, be curious about how everything works and question every result, everything you do not understand.

Be a fighter. Fight for people who do not have a voice, for those who cannot make themselves heard. Voice a cause you feel strongly for. Protest inconsiderate legislation, the unfairness of the system, stand for something.

Be kind. Kindness is a slowly disintegrating quality in the world today. It will one day be more valuable and rarer to find than a needle in a haystack, and honestly, if you are blessed with a kind heart, then go out there and be gentle to the people who need it.

Be honest. Like kindness, honesty is dying out. If you carry the truth in your bones and let it shine through your eyes when you speak, when you are a lone voice in a crowd full of liars and deceit, you are already one of the best people this world has to offer.

Be strong, be funny, be witty, be loyal, be crazy, be spontaneous, be artistic, be hardworking, be klutzy, be weird, be talented, be everything you have always desired to be; but please for the love of all things holy, do not allow yourself to change all those exceptional qualities that make you unique and different to be a ‘beautiful’ thing.

Go out there and change the world, trust me you do not need your looks to cure illness, to fight injustice, to do amazing things with all the talents you already possess. Take a look at yourself in the mirror again and don’t look at your face or your body. Instead look into your eyes, look into your soul. You are an ancient thing full of magic and you do not need a nine letter word to define you or the person that you are. Be your own definition of amazing, turn the world inside out with the unique, wonderful gifts you bring to it.

And you have never needed to be beautiful to live an incredible, full life. And you do not need it now.