For the last two Monday nights I’ve tuned in to watch Jessica Simpsons new show “The Price of Beauty”. She alongside her two best friends travel the world to see how different cultures perceive beauty.
The topic of beauty is a sensitive topic for Jessica Simpson since she herself has been scrutinized for “gaining weight” when photos surfaced last year of her wearing unflattering jeans. She mentioned in interviews that all the attention to her weight left her feeling insecure and uncomfortable with herself thus birthing the documentary like show “The Price of Beauty”.
In this weeks episode a well known photographer in Paris was inspired by Jessicas journey and did a shoot not only photographing models but the average size French woman. He said a great statement about Jessica that can be translated universally when true for any woman…He said “Jessica is beautiful, but now she is even more beautiful because she accepts who she is.” The show seems to be healing for Jessica Simpson just as much as it is for us who watch at home.
I suggest everyone tunes in and joins Jessica Simpson on a journey to discover that beauty is far deeper then physical, it’s a mind set.
Each episode is short and sweet with only a half hour running time every
Recently Heidi Montage who got her fame from being on the MTV reality show “The Hills”, did 10 hours of plastic surgery with around 10 different procedures done simultaneously. When I heard this and saw the pictures It broke my heart. This 23 year old girl now looks more then a decade older and all to satisfy this false image she thinks she has to portray because she’s a “celebrity”. Even with all those surgeries she’s not content, she still wants more work. I wish her husband was a real man and let her know she was beautiful the way she was.
Here’s a clip from her Good Morning America interview and some before and after images.
As a young woman I know there are pressures to look our best. The media tells us what is beautiful and from there we mold a version of ourselves that we wish we were. We wish we had blue eyes, longer hair, more height, less hips and bigger lips. The cliche thing to say is “Beauty is from the inside out”. But, as cliche as that statement is, it’s truthful. I too have wished to be things I’m not, and end up having to remind myself that I need to love who I am when I look in the mirror knowing that my beauty isn’t measured by how long my hair is, how much weight I gain or loose, or even by the clothes I wear. It’s measured by the woman I am, how I love, how I treat others and by the person I am everyday pursuing to be, this is what deems me beautiful.
Yes, as men and women, we should take care of ourselves by exercising and eating healthy but we need to know that at the end of the day Beauty is fleeting, it doesn’t last forever. What will deem us a great man or woman isn’t dependent on our looks but rather our character. So lets stop being so hard on ourselves and others and learn to see our beauty from the inside out.
Dear Men,
You are visual, very visual, but you should know that you shouldn’t choose a woman to spend the rest of your life with based on how small her waist is, how good she looks in a bathing suit or by the color of her eyes. You should desire a woman who is giving, puts others before herself, loves unconditionally, is a hard worker, is clothed with strength and dignity, is honest and speaks with wisdom. You want a woman you can spend the rest of your life with talking to and enjoying moments with and not just looking at. And yes, there needs to be attraction but don’t place your standards so high that you miss out on a great woman because you wanted someone who looked like she walked out of a magazine. Lastly, remind the women in your life how beautiful they are not just because of their physical assets but their inner attributes.
Dear Women,
Believe you are beautiful. Love who you are, be comfortable in your own skin and strive to be a better version of yourself by working on who you are instead of just how you look. Media has skewed the perception of beauty causing us to believe we are not beautiful. If we were all as flawless as the images and magazines portray women to be, Photoshop and plastic surgery wouldn’t exist. Believing we are beautiful isn’t obtained by altering ourselves physically, it’s done by believing it mentally. So lets believe it, lets change the way we think about ourselves and beauty. We are Beautiful.
