True Beauty

"The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity." -Margaret Nadauld

I have always struggled with a negative body image. I love to exercise and have always set goals to have a body that may or may not be realistic for my body type. The only thing this has done for me is make me miserable. The more I exercise the more critical I am of myself. I've always told myself that I'm not "that girl" who compares myself to all the fit people I see all over social media. The more I think about it, however, the more I realize I actually AM. I do compare myself to others, even if it's subconsciously. While I realize the importance of taking care of my body, I can see that instead of exercising to be healthy and to feel good about myself I exercise because I am in a subconscious "competition" with those I come across in the media. 

Lately I've been thinking about true beauty. What kind of beautiful do I want to be? Do I want to continue to beat myself up over unrealistic goals that I am not accomplishing? If I continue to base my beauty on how hard I work at the gym or whether or not I have a thigh gap, I know that I will continue to be unhappy. This is why I have set a goal to measure my beauty differently. 

 I want to feel beautiful because I do things that really matter. I know that I feel best when I am serving others. I also know that when I see others doing random acts of kindness, I see those people as beautiful. I want to be seen as beautiful because I do and say kind things. I want to be seen as beautiful because I was the answer to someone's prayer. I want to be seen as beautiful because I have compassion, charity, and love towards other people.  I want to be beautiful because I am Christlike. 

As women we tend to be very critical of ourselves. What if we could just take a step back and base our beauty on the things we do and say instead of the things we buy to make ourselves "look better?" What if we stop comparing ourselves to others and look inward to realize the difference we can make by our kind words and deeds? What if instead of trying to look or be better than someone else you do something nice for them instead?

I absolutely love the quote at the beginning of this post. The world has enough women who THINK they know who they are. We need more woman who KNOW who they are and know their divine worth and act on that knowledge. We are daughters of a loving Heavenly Father. The world sees us only as objects meant to satisfy the lust of the world. We are so much more! We will never be good enough in the eyes of the world. There is always another pound to lose, another product to try. However, we will ALWAYS be good enough for our Heavenly Father. 

Beauty comes in giving yourself to others. It comes in realizing who you are and WHOSE you are. Beauty comes when you truly lose yourself in the service of others and by doing so bring yourself closer to Christ. Some of the most beautiful women I know are the ones who radiate the light of Christ.

Beauty Redefined is a non-profit organization started by twin sisters Lindsay and Lexi Kite. They both received their PhD's from the University of Utah in the study of media and body image and have created this initiative as a way to fight negative media messages targeted at women that affect body image. They have created three points that summarize their objective:

1. Recognize. Recognizing harmful messages is the first step in taking back beauty and health for ourselves. By recognizing the lies that are portrayed in the media we can begin to redefine our concept of beauty.

2. Redefine. Redefining the way we perceive our own bodies is the second step to taking back beauty and health for ourselves. One suggestion to redefine your perception of your body may be to set goals to see what your body can do instead of what it can look like.

3. Resist. Resisting harmful messages about female bodies is the final continuous step to taking back health and beauty for ourselves. This may include choosing not to spend money at stores that use degrading images and messages (ex. Carl's Junior. Many of their ads use sex as a way to make their food look desirable.) 

To find out more about Beauty Redefined, check out the website here! 

Lastly, I would like to suggest that if you find yourself judging your body by what it looks like instead of what it can do, set goals to realign your focus. Our bodies are amazing and were created in the image of our Heavenly Father. By setting goals to see what your body can do you will have a more complete concept of yourself as someone who can achieve healthy goals.