Questions for Us

I found the following on Facebook and I think it’s simply fantastic:

We are the fairer sex. Yes.

And we should enjoy that…but at what price?

Recently I’ve listened to numerous female students feel down about their looks – thinking they’re not beautiful, which always leaves me feeling aghast because I can’t communicate the beauty I see. They think I’m ‘just saying that’. They also don’t know how to accept a compliment because they simply don’t believe it.

I feel a touch of despair for these girls because the feelings of inadequacy they have about themselves, only proves that the grip the false ideals of beauty has on them – has talons.

In a previous post, A response, I put a photo of me in my final year of high school, aged 17, with very alluring short hair. NOT! The year before this photo was taken – when my hair was a little shorter – my, Catholic, all-girls high school took my year group on a three-day camp, with an all-boys high school.

Now, I was your typical teen – someone who wanted to find a dreamy boyfriend, who would adore me forever…

But I didn’t fit the ‘mould’.

On the camp, I experienced two poignant moments – moments long forgotten, that have recently poked their heads out of my cavernous memory. Due to this resurfacing, I have shared the story with a few…so to those of you who have heard this one already, I ask you for your ever-appreciated patience with me repeating myself!

Moment 1. A group of us were walking up to the boys’ cabins, where you had to walk up a few steps to their long verandah. A boy was standing at the top of these steps saying, “Welcome” to every girl as she stepped up. When I got there he said, “You’re not welcome.”

That’s OK. I walked through anyway.

Moment 2. In a group session, we were asked what our first impressions were of each other. There was that awkward silence when everyone is shyly looking around or staring at their hands – when one guy, put his hand up, looking straight at the team leader and said, “I thought Paula was really weird because of her hair.”

I didn’t mind. It kind of felt good – no other girl got mentioned. And I knew I wasn’t weird.

Even though I lay my dream of finding my high school sweetheart at this camp to rest (and felt a little bummed), I knew they’d be another time that would present itself…

…and I ceratinly wasn’t going to start growing my hair long and disappear into the crowd – just because two boys weren’t into my look.

Still girls and boys trying to get one another’s attention – no different to today.

So, what IS the difference between then and now? Well, how about the saturation of EVERYTHING…’on tap’?

For women, there seem to be endless amounts of clothes, shoes, make-up, hair products – electrical and chemical, salon services, manicures, pedicures, facials, diet options, diet shakes, hair removal options (shave, wax, laser), Botox, machines that ‘dissolve’ cellulite, surgical procedures…and ALL THAT;

For basically one. general. look.

No wonder girls are in a whirlpool of self-loathing.

A recent report said that women in Australia spend $100, 000 on razors and $30, 000 on waxing – a year.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m one of the razor buyers (since my teens)…but when you look at numbers like that, doesn’t it seem ridiculous? That’s a lot of money.

Question #78: What price do you pay for ‘beauty’? Are you happy yet?

Don’t buy into it! Not through your mind OR your wallets.

Of course those on the receiving end of your spending, don’t want you to stop – so be the sensible, intelligent woman you are and know:

Beauty is an attitude.

It resonates.

By all means enhance – uniquely – do the best with what you’ve been blessed with.

YES – blessed! Don’t lose sight of the big picture.

You don’t need ‘fixing’…and as it says in the image above – you don’t owe it to anyone!

And the only thing you owe to yourself – is to love your unique ‘take’ on beauty.

Deep Breath.

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