Girls and boys, I would like to start this entry by sharing with you a video that made Sophie tear up in the middle of a delicious dinner.
Okay, done? Let’s go on with my stream of thoughts.
When asked to answer the question, “What do I love about myself?” I also found myself in the situation of the other girls in the video, paused a bit, and tried to think if there was any body part that I thought that I’d be proud of. Hmmm, hmmm, and hmmm. I don’t really like my hair – I have gray in which I need to color my hair frequently, I don’t like my skin, I feel I’m growing fatter by the minute, and well, okay, stop Sophie. All that negativity and self-image issues! I finally settled with telling myself, that I love my eyes – the color of my eyes, that is. My eyes are small, and my lids are hooded, hard to apply makeup and make bigger (here we go again), but I would like to say that I love its color- they’re naturally hazel brown, I got it from my dad, as I would find myself from time to time being asked by people if I wore contacts. But well, it’s just that.
But when asked what body part I like about my sister Suzzane, well, that’s another story -
Suzzane is my sidekick in Beauty & Minerals, and Charm Makeup Brushes. She does my photography, and graphics, even with Beautynomics.com. She’s incredibly talented, and she’s such a sweet sister. She never gets tired of helping me with my business, and she never complains. Do you know that she is also the one who helps me man my booth during bazaar seasons? From the first few bazaars that I’ve been managing my own booth, she has seen me talk to customers, and just quietly observed me. And just like that, she started doing the same! Now, she is even better in doing my job!
I did ask her what body part she liked about herself – and the same thing happened. She kept on asking me, “do you need an answer now?” and paused thru and thru. She couldn’t decide, and I then asked her, “wala ka bang maisip?” (you haven’t really thought about any body part you liked?), and she admitted to a yes. She finally settled with, “my face.” and I know the story why.
Suzzane, my sister, looking that beautiful, and charming, did have a hard childhood. She developed a really rare skin condition that caused her years of having rashes and really bad wounds on the skin. My mom gave up 10 years of her good sleep by guarding my sister Suzzane as she sleeps, so that she won’t wound her skin by scratching it. We were all devastated with what happened to Suzzane, as she was the cutest baby girl ever – see her picture? She’s the cutest thing on earth!
We went to countless doctors and tried all the ways for her to be better, with moments of giving up. My mom would cry from time to time with the hardship that was presented to us, thinking how our little baby girl would suffer like this. With those self-esteem issues that built up over her ten years of suffering, I could only imagine how damaged her self esteem was. We battled over her sickness during her highschool days, I don’t even recall which method or doctor worked for her, but when she started with her recovery, we deemed that it was all worth it with her now clear, flawless, and rosy skin. Her skin is way, waaayyy better than mine, I swear!
But if you ask me what body parts I love about her – I can actually say alot! Aside from her very flawless skin, I love her full eyebrows, and I love her nose. I also like her cute cheeks, and I definitely admire her height. She also has a beautiful smile! She can also do really nice nail art and apply nail polish like a pro! Aside from the physical stuff, I can go on and on on how great she is. I swear, I have so much to say!
Suzzane’s beautiful. After her sickness, she even has the most flawless face amongst us all!
If you noticed by what I just did ( sort of an exercise ), we seem to not appreciate things about ourselves, as we are not too confident about ourselves. But our eyes can definitely see the beauty of others – the world is still good, as we still see beauty.
In this world of ours, no matter how we say that looks don’t matter, and it’s inner beauty that matters, I’m afraid that superficiality is still a big thing out there. How we perceive beauty, the standard beauty from our norms, greatly affect how we see ourselves, and make us unsatisfied about the way we look. With that, little do we know that our self esteem would get crushed, resulting in defense mechanisms, or just plain being miserable with the physical attributes assigned to us by the Higher Being. With other pairs of eyes that can see beauty, like our friends and family, the world is then a better place, as what they see in us definitely would make us feel better about ourselves, and make us better appreciate ourselves. Friends and family are God’s wonderful creations – so that we can hold each other’s hands when the world is rough on us, and remind us that we are beautiful, whether we like it or not.
That’s a reminder to all of us to give compliments when they are due, be a little bit more generous with words when you see something good in a friend, as words are for free, but you can really make a huge impact in a friend’s life by just doing so. Life is too short to keep things to ourselves – when we point out the beautiful in our friend, it gives them a boost of good vibes, a realization of the good in them, and a boost in self-worth. Wouldn’t you want that?
So, this Christmas, and even beyond the Holidays, I highly encourage you to say something nice to your friend when you see something nice. Don’t keep it to yourself, it won’t matter. Turn those into positive vibes and make an impact in your friend’s way of seeing herself.
But for all of you, let me share with you this quote that I really love, from Twitter,
As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. -Marianne Williamson
Take a minute, and discover something to appreciate about yourself daily. It’ll do wonders in how you’ll see the world, treat others, and make others feel too!
I’d love to hear your thoughts about this!
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