Joining in the #ChooseBeautiful Journey
Dove commercials get me almost every time. They push me to see beyond the ordinary and to dig down into the extraordinary that I am – because each and every one of us IS extraordinary.
They Dove company started the #ChooseBeautiful campaign to help women – to help PEOPLE – understand that beauty is a choice. It is not a surface look or appearance. Beauty resides in the heart.
Maybe I was particularly sensitive at that moment, but I cried. Maybe the tears fell because I am struggling with my own perception of what I am and who I am. Maybe the video hit me so hard because I saw me in the women that encountered the door and heard my own struggles in their words.
I write or speak every single day about the power of words and the power of thoughts and yet I will confess that I would have probably walked through the “Average” door – or I may have done like the one woman and just turned around and walked away . . . not feeling up to either at that particular moment.
My husband tells me I am beautiful. My children tell me that I am beautiful. I had some pictures taken a few weeks back and the photographer told kept commenting how “the camera loves you.” If I keep thinking of myself as average or below average or not even worth ranking – then I will never be beautiful.
I have to embrace it and understand if I am going to live it.
How to Walk Out the #ChooseBeautiful Path
– Stop the comparisons. I will never be a Cindy Crawford, a Tyra Banks, or a Kate Upton . . . because I am a Kathryn Lang. I am not supposed to be them. I am me. The more I remind myself of that one truth the less time I will have to compare myself to others.
– Start the choices. IF I am not happy where I am then I have to make the different choices that will move me to a different place. Choices are the only way to bring change.
– Speak the positives. Even though I am not where I want to be, I am still happy with some things. I love my hair . . . on most days. I love my eyes. I love my smile and my laughter. Instead of looking at the negatives, I have to turn my eyes to the positive and SPEAK those positives.
You are beautiful. You are amazing. You are special and unique and exceptional.
So am I.
It may take some effort to walk it out, but I know that changing my mindset and my view will begin to move me down that path.
Be blessed,