Guest Post: Beauty

It's Pride and Predjudice week at NewMoonGirls.com!Beauty is on the inside as WELL as on the outside, and it's important to recognize that beauty isn't always what society defines it to be. Gabrielle of blog/webzine Innovative wrote the following post on the idea of beauty.



You do not have to be a certain shape to be beautiful.
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You do not have to be beautiful.
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Those two sentences have taken the longest time to sink into my head. I've always been a reader and writer who hates sports, meaning I spent (and spend) a lot of time on the couch. I was a chubby kid and a chubby tween in a city where everyone was thin. Consequence? I dieted constantly and hated how I looked.
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Scratch that. I was never comfortable with my weight, not comfortable with how I looked in shopping room mirrors or how I moved. I couldn't get it right.
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Body image is something we struggle with constantly and I can't offer an end-all solution. I wish I could. But there are a few things that have helped me, as a senior in high school, appreciate what healthy body image can do and accept the way I look. See if this makes sense.

Think about images. Part of my problem was the images I saw in my halls and in magazines. There is this definition of beauty that I saw, with few alternatives. But look at pictures of gorgeous "plus-size" models in gorgeous clothes-look at them-my brain tells me, they're beautiful too.
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Say yes to your mirror. Something I try to do is look in the mirror and stop criticizing. Look and say, this is what I look like and be okay with it. My body gets me places: it takes me to school, lets me breathe, helps me dance, shows off fabulous outfits.
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Health is good. If you eat bad and feel bad, change how you eat and change how you feel. Unless you have a serious health problem and are on doctors' orders, you girls should not be on diets. Recognize that caring for your health and trying to fit in with a certain stereotype (and yes, it is a stereotype) are way different. Eat fruits and veggies not to change shape, but because it will give you more energy and it's good for your thumper. Drink herbal tea. Take dance lessons. Dress for your shape. It's fun.