Can YOU Define Beauty?

Hello my lovely fudgies :)

I wrote an article for Groupe Equilibre, which you can find here, and i translated it for you:)

Since the dawn of time, humans have been naturally preoccupied with definitions. 

A fire's a fire. A rock's a rock. Simple, right?

Alas, our need to label everything has proven itself to be limited. Let's try, for example to define beauty. 

Anna Hoyt monologue "The Definition of Beauty" unleashed a tsunami of reactions and reflections in my little blogger neurones. 

First of all, how can we define something that is constantly changing? 

From the prehistoric times, through antiquity, 'til the modern ages, our beauty ideals have been in constant evolution. 

During the Renaissance, the epitome of beauty was none other than a woman's opulent curves, unlike the 1920s, during which the most sought after fashion designs were those who could completely eliminate the appearance of feminine roundness. 

Even when try to define ourselves in relation to beauty, it seems to be a roller coaster of opinions.

On Mondays we can be on the tippity-top of the ride, flashing a confident smile as we sashay like a supermodel down school hallways, while on Thursday we find ourselves in the very bottom pit of the slope, hunched over by insecurities, avoiding eye contact at all costs, in fear that someone else might catch a glimpse of our atrocity. 

And let's not forget our good friends The Media whose job is to sell an idea of beauty to benefit their wallets and massacre our self esteems. Their definition of beauty is thus not exactly reliable either, since it just keeps raising the bar where unrealistic standards are concerned. "I mean, you're kinda ugly like that, but you could really like fierce if (insert product placement here)."

So if it obvious no one can accurately define beauty for us, why don't we take back that power? 

Look at your life with a new set of eyes and decide. 

Decide, for example, that the complete giggle fit breakdowns you and your friends share, your grandma's wisdom-filled grey hair, the unique outline of your body and your soccer trophies, are your definition of beauty. And who can tell you otherwise?

So next time you catch your reflection in a mirror and your brain goes into nasty comment mode, decide that no,  you won't belittle yourself because the forces of the universe are trying to shove an illogical, unobtainable and frankly boring definition of beauty down your throat. 

Decide that you are beautiful, because you said so. 

xoxo

Gabby

check out equilibre's blog! http://www.derrierelemiroir.ca/on-blogue/