Ken and Barbie

 In today's culture, we point to photo shopped models plastered on billboards and declare that is what beauty is. We are told that if you don't live up to that certain standard of perfection, you are not beautiful. We are taught that beauty is defined by our size, by the numbers on the scale. Sounds ludicrous, right? But tell yourself a lie long enough and before you know it, it becomes the truth. Eventually the lie starts to creep into your life and bit by bit, begins to destroy you. But it doesn't stop there. It won't be satisfied until it kills you. Statistically speaking, 20% of girls and women who struggle with anorexia will go on to die prematurely from it. We are being brain washed with a lie. Just like Eve, we ate the lie. Also like Eve when she ate the forbidden fruit, the lie is killing slowly but surely killing us.

    Something I can't stress enough is how much power words have—even if you're “just joking.” I remember times when people would jokingly say I was fat. It didn't help that I already didn't feel good enough, I didn't feel like I lived up to the culture's harsh standard of perfection. I thought I had to look a certain way, be a certain size, be a certain height in order to be accepted. It didn't help that I already struggled with insecurities and their teasing words only added to the mountain of self-image issues. People don't understand how much power words have. It was because of their words that I almost developed an eating disorder because I didn't think I was “good enough” (whatever that means). I remember how I would weight myself so, so much and try to watch my calorie intake. Those of you who know me well are probably really surprised by that part of me you didn't know. It's not something I'm proud of, but it's the truth. Never underestimate the power of words.

     Even these days, I sometimes still struggle with believing it when someone tells me I'm beautiful. I am tempted to believe this warped truth that if I'm not perfect, then I'm not beautiful. The culture and media has successfully sold a lie disguised as the truth and we have hungrily devoured it up. When I was talking to Nick about beauty the other day and how I didn't feel like I lived up to the standard of life sized Barbie dolls, he replied, “Ahh, Anna, but you're looking at beauty with your eyes. You have to look with your heart.” Beauty in it's truest definition is not something we can merely see with we eyes. It is something we see with we hearts. “I think,” Nick told me, “the definition of beautiful is something that makes the world a better place.” Like Nick went on to say, the world has corrupted the definition of beauty. We get fake tans, fake hair, fake nails, and call that beauty.

     Maybe. Just maybe beauty is more than that.

     I beg to offer that beauty is authenticity.

     It's not just enough to get recognize the lie and get rid of it, though that's a good starting place. You must replace lies with truth.

    Fact: Your beauty is not defined by what you see in the mirror.

    Fact: you are beautiful.

    Fact: Your beauty is not defined by the numbers on the scale.

    Fact: You are beautiful. 

    Fact: Your beauty is not measured by lies from your past.

    Fact: You are beautiful.Nothing can change that.So own it.