Beauty Image

 Slam Poem

I had a moment when my mom texted me to celebrate my cousin's birthday, you see. It was 8:30 on a Saturday night. I had taken off all my makeup and just relaxed. Being ‘me’ 

“Come eat cake, pick you up in a bit.” 

The first thought was, I don’t have on my facade. 

But I’m just going with family, I can just be me? Right?

“He is bringing a friend too.” 

That’s when my mind started to lose its composure, they are going to see me like this. My whole attention went,

 “You have to look pretty!”

 I rushed and brushed my hair, put on my false front. I paused once I had on my public mask, and simply I looked at myself in the mirror, I stared at the person in front of me. The reflection in the mirror was not who I am. Why did I just rush for a person, I don’t even know, a person who was only going to see me for an hour or so? The foolishness that went into that thought was, is this who I really am? Now don’t get me wrong I wear makeup because I enjoy putting it on, but for some reason, I have thought maybe sometimes even an urge in the back of my head telling me that I’m putting this on to impress people. Why do we feel that we have to live up to an image fanfare? Contrary to what you see in the media, we are not all supposed to look the same. We were all built differently but why is that so wrong?

Why do we have this voice in our heads telling us, 

“YOU HAVE TO BE SKINNY.”

“YOU HAVE TO BE PRETTY.”

 “YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE PERFECT BODY.” 

Beauty is not a dependent. You could be the prettiest girl but you could have the worst personality. It all comes down to who we are, not who they want us to be. We don’t teach ourselves to hate our bodies. THEY do. There should be no such thing as a ‘beauty standard’. THEY are corrupting our minds with advertisements and corporations who shame us just to buy their products to make us feel pretty? We don’t have to live up to the false image that everyone wants because, in the end, we will only have ourselves. Yes, of course, family is always there and sometimes friends are too. The only person you should need the acceptance of is our own. Not your friends, not strangers, not the media, but yourself. Look at yourself in the mirror and say: “Don’t give up, smile, keep going, work for what you want because you are still young and you will rise up, I am free to be me!”

Our happiness should not depend on others. We will always have our ups and downs, and have times where we feel the lowest of the lows and won’t feel like trying anymore but trust me it will be worth it. I know we can do it, I know we will be who we want to be, not who they want to see because it's okay to have imperfections. We all have them! You are worth it. Everyone will always have their opinions, it's just how it is. Don’t let that change how you feel about yourself, we can’t be obsessed with how others see us. The opinion is being comfortable with who you are and not changing for the acceptance of others. You will be the one who sticks by your side through thick and thin. With or without perfect skin.