Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder…

I know that we’ve all heard this saying before but the older I get the more I come to understand and appreciate it more..."beauty is in the eye of the beholder." I’m sure you can remember when you were younger (high school or college) and you would go out with your friends to a party. If you weren’t the friend then you had a friend that seemed to always come home with phone numbers or would always capture on-lookers attention. If you weren’t the friend that got the attention maybe you thought “why didn’t I get any phone numbers?” or “why did she/he get more attention than I did?” and finally “what’s wrong with me?”. At that age the only logical assumption that made sense had to be that you were just not attractive or at least not as attractive as your friend.

As I get older I understand that what we thought was rejection had nothing to do with your “cute factor” but more to do with what individuals are attracted too. People are like art or music…just because it’s beautiful to one person doesn’t mean that it will be beautiful or enjoyable to the next. The perception of beauty is not only expressed outwardly but inwardly. Have you ever been in a rush instead of taking 30 minutes to get ready all you had was 10...you throw on whatever's clean and not wrinkled? When you arrived at your destination so many people complimented you that it made you wonder what you were doing wrong on the days you actually devoted the time. Have you ever met someone that you were attracted to but the attraction was not reciprocated? I know you’ve seen a couple and thought…"now how did they end up together?". Well it all has to do with a person’s preference nothing to do with how attractive you are.

As most of my readers know I am a student of people. I love to watch people and learn more about the way they interact. The best places to people-watch for me are the gym and the mall. While huffing and puffing on my bike in my spin class yesterday I saw this very affectionate couple going to the racquetball room. They looked as if they were in their late to mid 50’s. The man passionately rubbed the woman’s back and they smiled and talked as they walked toward the rooms. I’m sure you’ve seen couples like this before but the interesting thing about this couple was that the woman was so tanned that her blonde hair seemed to glow along side of her burnt orange skin. I thought… wow that tan is not normal but obviously he thought she looked like God’s gift.

After I exited what seemed like a forever cycling class I was gently nudged to extend my hour long workout by my workout partner. Not being a lover of the gym I hesitantly agreed. As I walked towards the dreaded leg machines I ran into a woman who unlike me obviously loves to be in the gym. Her biceps perturbed from under her tank top like rockets waiting to be launched from a ship. Her face was chiseled like a runway male model on the cat walk! My workout partner replied “wow she looks like a man!” As the women curled the dumbbell and smiled at her self in the mirror she on the other hand was obviously very pleased with her muscle toned body. I even thought aloud “how do you get guns like that”?

At my job I work with a group of ladies. When I first moved to this group it amazed me how they were so open with discussing their weight and fashion. It’s almost a daily topic. They talk openly about how much weight they’ve lost or gained and what new program they are trying to either help them maintain or lose weight. For a woman that hates to talk about her weight this situation was very uncomfortable. Over time I’ve adjusted and learned to even comment on occasion to the dreaded weight talks. In my eyes one of my teammates is very petite, but in her eyes she is not. She diets, exercises and watches what she eats religiously. She weighs herself every morning to ensure that she is maintaining her current weight. I truly admire her dedication and will power! Just this past week she made a comment about her “da-dunk-da-dunk” and I told her she needs to get rid of the “fun house” mirror in her house because obviously it has her vision skewed. We all laughed but this and all the other situations mentioned further justifies that beauty is indeed in the eyes of the beholder. What we see is not always what others see. To take this a little bit further beauty is not just skin deep but also mental, your inner perception of yourself also perpetuates outwardly through what some call an “aura”. You honestly give something off that without words speaks volumes!

So with all that being said… Put your beauty back in the Beholder’s hand because He created you uniquely beautiful. Remember it’s not what others think about you but what you think of yourself…so make it positive because without words your body is talking! There is no one like you! There will never be anyone like you! Even identical twins have different qualities that make them special and unique. Trust me on this one…two of my closet friends are identical twins. I enjoy and love their differences as well as their similarities. So embrace your uniqueness and know that there is someone out there that will love and appreciate your beauty as much as the one that created you in His likeness!