Real Beauty Lies Within!

I see people around me, all depicting the finest artwork of God, despite the diversity I strongly believe, beauty lies within the entity and the only thing one needs: just to embrace it. Everyone has their unique body type, skin tone, ethnicity, and personality. People as a whole bunch in a crowd can be known as a colorful display of artistry and magic with a blend of brilliant minds. Not embracing your true self and feeling insecure about your individuality can be the biggest form of self-hatred.

Suppose you grew up in a household where the perfect skin tone “fair complexion” is idealized. From the mere age of 8, you were told to apply whitening face creams, chickpea flour (besan) face masks, and any other skincare product that would aid in making you the prettiest and the most attractive person in the world. Regardless of gender, both males and females have faced this issue at any point in their lives, irrespective of the fact that real beauty lies within.

Why is it that the same color, the same natural color that represents the beauty of diversity is often dismissed, while fair skin is seen as the pinnacle of beauty? Not only skin tone, this absurd classification can be seen in body types as well. A person who does not fit in this stratum feels alienated from the crowd, or on the complete opposite side, a person who does fit in nicely with all the norms of society becomes a lucky charm. Was it all a lie? Why is there so much insecurity?

Think about that small child who grew up in a household that degraded them with the skin color in which they were born, the body physique they had, because guess what! I don’t know about the people of the world but the closest ones made that small child feel inferior. These are some pertinent emparatives, negating the basic notion and essence of beauty that the beauty lies within by constructing multiple stereotypes as righly mentioned above.

“True beauty is a ray that springs from the sacred depths of the soul.”

Every day you wake up and look into the mirror, the face that greets you doesn’t excite you anymore. Their words regarding your body, skin, and every other thing associated with it echo inside your mind and you question yourself: “Is it all true?”, “Am I not capable enough?”, “How will I face them?”, “Why am I not like them?”.

Then there comes a time when you question your existence. You think how lucky everyone is to be born with the perfect complexion and facial features, your self-hatred spikes high. Whatever words they say about you, you start to believe in that and make it your main focus in life. Of being insignificant, powerless, and disparaged. You wake up and meet friends, the insecure you are, I see. You fail to make eye contact with the people you had a fair bond with before because guess what you have that notion that you are not worth looking at.

The writers and the poets write songs about missing a lover but who’d ever write one for missing yourself? The little you who had the utmost confidence to face the world and to walk on the roads freely without feeling insecure about the way you look. Exhausted. Overwhelming at its core. The things which you loved before don’t make you feel happy, eulogize yourself by accepting that the real beauty lies within, rather you start questioning your capabilities, that you aren’t smart enough to excel.

It’s a constant struggle to be very honest. The jokes pull on you just because of your weight, hair, and skin color, and after all this people expect you to act right, do right, and be right. Is it too much to ask for? Can’t we change our mindsets? The way we perceive others. True beauty comes from within and the real beauty lies within, yes looks are good. People are pretty, elegant, and gorgeous, however, setting such high beauty standards and making people feel left out incapable enough to fit in, is a torment.

The desire for love and appreciation of the way you look is unfulfilled. There’s a gap, a void. You feel as if you’re drowning. If for once, we set aside these complexities and start to embrace our true originality where there isn’t any insecurity about the way we look, walk, and talk. Maybe then, society won’t be at stake. If you would ever get a chance to talk to your younger self, the version of you that heard the most, saw the most, but still, you have a big heart. You are selfless. Your beauty lies within, whenever you see someone going through the same facing criticism about your body, skin, etc, you get emotional. You don’t want others to go through the same trial and tribulations you went through, and believe me this thinking of yours is the real majesty, allurance, and grandeur that is hidden in you.

But then there comes a time when the only way to shut those voices inside your head is to step into reality, and just go back to move forward. If people make you feel unlovable, you feel as if you are in the depths of despair. That birthmark on your face makes you feel unwanted, but little do you know that it can be the biggest and most diverse feature of your body. If all your worries magically disappeared, it would be bewildering to make progress.

Sometimes, you have to remind yourself that yes, you are easily hurt, you tend to fight, overthink, expect too much, and fiercely protect those you care about. On your bad days, annoyance and frustration are your companions when something sets you off. Maybe that scar on your face doesn’t make you look pretty, or the way your eyebrows look is unconventional. Sometimes, to celebrate life, believing in yourself by saying real beauty lies within and you must learn to celebrate who you are.

You only live once, so why waste your life thinking about all the negativities people associate? I know it’s a process, however, you are bound by nothing. How about loving yourself amidst negativity? Knowing from the depth of your heart that the words they say about you aren’t true and cannot dull your sparkle. Never think that way that you wish you had fair skin, a slimmer body, and perfect facial features. NO! You’re unique, one of a kind, and you’re perfect just the way you are and you’re you. I want your past self to thank you for not giving up on yourself and for not letting those intruding thoughts about yourself become the main focal point of your life.

Well, I poured my heart into this article for all those beautiful people out there to expand their horizons. This would be just another article but believe me the diversity and charm are in you, as real beauty lies within whuch truely epitomize by Rumi in the following golden words:

“True beauty is a ray that springs from the sacred depths of the soul“