Our Everly Mag Writing Leaders told us about their definitions of beauty and how beauty plays a role in their life. In their responses, they think critically about who gets to define beautiful, how they can make other people feel beautiful, and about times when they feel beautiful. 

This article was written by our writing leader Eunseo.  Get to know our Summer 2018 Leaders here!

What is beauty? Is it the way you dress? Is it the way you act? Is it the makeup you wear? The truth is, beauty is whatever you define it as.

You become beautiful when you start to love yourself. When you love the things that set you apart, you truly begin to appreciate how unique you truly you are.

The moment I truly started to love myself was when I read this quote. I was scrolling through Instagram and found this anonymous quote. “Just because you don’t look like somebody who you think is attractive doesn’t mean you aren’t attractive. Flowers are pretty, but so are Christmas lights and they look nothing alike.”

What this means to me is that even if you look different from someone that you think fits the standard of beauty, you are still beautiful in your own individual way. Fairy lights and flowers are completely different, yet they are considered beautiful in their own ways. Fairy lights don’t have the blossoms that flowers have, and flowers don’t have the luminescence that fairy lights have. Yet, they are both perceived as beautiful. To me, my beauty is the things that set me apart from others. I love my sense of humor, my body, and my brain.

Social media has changed the way teens and tweens perceive beauty by creating an ideal standard of the perfect woman. With access to pictures of models, actors, and other famous people, sometimes you feel like you’re not enough. You feel like in order to be perceived as beautiful, you have to be exactly like someone.

Truth is, some of those pictures aren’t even real. Those pictures are blurred, over filtered, and face-tuned to perfection. Basing your standards off of a picture that is probably edited and captures the person’s best moment will never reflect true beauty.

Social media also means that instead of seeing all the parts of a person, all you see are the highlights. This is good in a way, but it can often weigh you down. You start to wonder why you don’t look like your favorite TV star or YouTuber. Again, even those people don’t look like that all the time. You are judging yourself based on one picture of someone’s best angle, and that creates unhealthy thoughts.

The best thing about you is that there is no one exactly like you. You are limited edition. You are one of a kind. No one is the exact same as you, and that sets you apart. You are special, you have something no one else does.

How can you help yourself feel more beautiful today?

Here are some ideas!

• Every day, wake up and tell yourself one thing that you like about yourself. Try to switch it up, and think about what you think is unique about yourself.
• Stop letting the negative thoughts get to you. Remember that you are beautiful, regardless of anyone else’s appearance.
• Being beautiful on the inside shows on the outside. If you are a beautiful person inside, it will reflect that on the outside. Being kind gives you a glow.

Remember, all you need to do to be beautiful, is to be yourself. There’s no makeup or Photoshop that gives you the title of beautiful. It’s all up to you.

What’s something unique about you? Comment below!  

All articles submitted to Everly Mag are property of Everly Mag and the writer only and may not be copied, reproduced, or duplicated in any publication or entity.  Everly Mag © 2018.  All Rights Reserved.

Check out Everly Mag on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.

Feature Image Credit: Everly Mag