Hey you! Yeah you! YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!

Happy International Women's Day! But in all honesty, what is all this hype over International Women's Day?! International Women's Day is defined as a general celebration of respect, appreciation, and love towards women. This celebration focuses on women's economic, political, and social achievements. Since the first International Women's Day was celebrated in 1911, this day is not just celebrated for the gals but overall gender equality. This day always makes me reflect on how women are depicted in society.

I was doing some research on self-esteem and the female population and let me tell you, I found so many troubling facts that women face in today's society. I found 3 shocking facts that really struck a nerve.

• Only 2% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful.
• 72% of girls feel a tremendous amount of pressure to be beautiful. 
• 80% of women agree that every single woman has something about her that is beautiful but do not see their own beauty. 

Wow, there is definitely something wrong here. I looked up the word beautiful in the dictionary and here is what I found: 

Beautiful (adjective) ˈbyü-ti-fəl: having qualities of beauty: exciting aesthetic pleasure & generally pleasing.

When reading this definition, I thought to myself, "Wow that is incredibly vague." So I looked up the definition of "beauty."

Beauty (adjective) ˈbyü-tē: the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the sense or pleasurably exalts in the mind or spirit.

I was shocked after looking up these definitions. The term "beautiful" is usually thrown around so much we often forget its true meaning. From what I experience in both my personal and professional life, the term "beautiful" is usually referred to as being physically attractive. Now as women, we have daily pressure to "look good." No matter how far you stray away from all forms of social media, magazines, and advertisements, we face these struggles no matter how hard we hide. 

Even the amount of money and time women put into our clothes, hair, nails, skin, etc. the beauty business will never go out of style. And do not get me wrong, investing in yourself is great for so many reasons, but even I get so caught up in this whirlwind of beauty that I forget how I really view myself as a young female. With this enormous amount of pressure, most women become victims of this very unhealthy cycle of comparing ourselves to unrealistic views of what society defines as "beautiful." If you read the definition of beauty it describes the qualities that focus not only physical characteristics but also spiritual characteristics. Spiritual does not solely focus on a person's religious beliefs but more so on the values and beliefs that person exhibits through his or her behavior. For me, I would personally define that as inner beauty. Inner beauty. Our society has heard this term before. However, inner beauty is never really used in our daily dialogue. It is interesting when you try to look up inner beauty in the dictionary you will not find a clear and concise definition, which says a lot about our society. 

It saddens me to see and even experience it myself that so many females do not see themselves as beautiful. Our outer appearance is usually the focus of how we define ourselves as beautiful. We forget that our beauty really comes from within. Inner beauty focuses on the positive aspects of the person that are not physically visible. Some of these qualities include compassion, creativity, intelligence, perseverance, kindness, and the list goes on. Outer beauty fades but inner beauty does not. I always pondered the thought that if society focused on a person's inner beauty instead of physical beauty, would more females consider themselves beautiful?

It is also interesting to see how as human beings we are our own worst critics. We can find beauty in each other, but when it comes to finding beauty in ourselves it is a challenge. I am a true believer that what makes a person truly beautiful is how their character and personality are shown through. I believe every human being (yes, that includes men too) is beautiful. Each person has a unique and beautiful characteristics about him or her that contributes to the world being so beautifully diverse.  

About 2 years ago I came across this website. You-are-beautiful.com This site creates stickers that focus on three little words, "You are Beautiful." This site embodies this powerful message by creating stickers that are encouraged to be put or given in multiple areas/people (bathroom stalls, street signs, your best friend, etc.) to be a reminder that You, yes You are truly beautiful both inside and out.  I have been hooked ever since. I have these stickers on all my mirrors in my room as a daily reminder of my inner beauty. I try to take a sticker with me everywhere I go to either put on something or to give to someone. How can these daily reminders not brighten your day? Not only do I highly encourage you to check out this site and join the movement, but also to focus on your beauty and realize you are such a beautiful human being. 

P.S. Did I mention that YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL?