Before we start, I want you to list five words that describe yourself. Go ahead and think really hard. Got it? I bet not one of those words were “beautiful.” But chances are if you asked three of the closest people around you, they’d have that word in their top three. It turns out that there’s a reason that we don’t describe ourselves as beautiful, but by the end of this article, that’ll all change.
The thing about beauty is that it’s different for everyone. You know what else is different for all of us? Happiness. After asking over fifty women when they feel beautiful, I realized that beauty and happiness have a strong connection. It makes sense if you think about it. Whether you feel beautiful when you’re around people who make you feel loved, all by yourself with no makeup on, or somewhere in between. You have to be happy before you can feel beautiful.
Here’s an example. One woman felt beautiful when she took her makeup off and still felt great at the end of the day. Another felt beautiful when she was doing her makeup in the morning. What do the two have in common? The women were both comfortable.
They were happy.
A wise man once told me that beautiful people aren’t born, they’re made. I never really understood what that meant until recently. Being beautiful isn’t about having good genetics, good makeup, or being on the right diet; it’s about being happy with what you have. Sometimes that means being happy with objects. Makeup, shoes, clothing –that’s what makes some people feel beautiful, because that’s what makes them the happiest. Other times people are happy with no makeup, pajamas on, surrounded by the people they love. True happiness is subjective to each person.
It’s kind of an awkward question to ask people what makes them feel beautiful. It’s filled with blank stares and awkward pauses. Try and think of what makes you beautiful. It’s hard, right? But it doesn’t have to be. I bet you can name at least five things that make you happy and those things also probably make you feel beautiful.
According to The Atlantic, studies show that “finding beauty in normal activities can bring a deep happiness to life.” It turns out that being surrounded by beautiful places makes people happy. Shocker. The publication found that there are seven things that make people happy – wealth, family relationships, career, friends, health, freedom, and personal values. (Which happens to be all the things that we struggle with in college.) But you know what made people the happiest? Beauty. That means that it’s scientifically proven that you can have nothing at all in life except a positive outlook and be happier than all the people around you. Even better, just reverse that and you finally have the answer to how to feel beautiful.
The key to feeling beautiful is being happy.
It’s that simple, my friends. Bottom line: stop the negative body talk, stop feeling like you need to look, be, or live a certain way, and find what makes you happy in life. I can guarantee when you find that, you’ll finally start to see the beauty in yourself once and for all.
Featured image via cottonbro on Pexels
