My dearest Lizteners,
It‘s been a minute since we last touched base, (as in almost 2 months), but between taking 6 classes at FIT, starting a new internship – which I‘m LOVING btw – and continuing to work on my hip injury recovery, I haven‘t been able to prioritize an activity I truly thrive in: creating content for y‘all! With that said, I‘m very excited about some exciting news I‘m gonna share with you guys further down in this blogpost!! (Hint: You’ll be able to hear my voice…)
Before revealing those exciting news to you, I’m gonna introduce them with a more-or-less related topic: Beauty and what exactly it means to me. In my last few posts I’ve talked a lot about the importance of self-love and how we often compromise the well-being of our mental state by being too caught up by the expectations that society sets on traditional beauty standards and thereby become prisoners of an endless cycle of comparison, frustration and unhappiness.
Contrary to social beliefs in different parts of the world, there is no one set of beauty standard everyone needs to abide by in order to be viewed as beautiful. And you’ve probably heard this a million time and surely agree with it – I mean, sounds pretty straight forward, right? But then why is it that still so many girls and boys suffer from body dysmorphia or eating disorders, get cosmetic surgery (as a teen even!) or spend hours face-tuning their bodies before posting that flawless bikini pic on their Insta feed?
There is this underlying idea of beauty equalling perfection and perfection equalling beauty. Living in a society where we validate success through likes and given that likes are attributed to imagery that is ‘most pleasing to the eye’ (or is perceived as most beautiful), the pressure of obeying to those pre-conceived notions of what beauty ‘should look like’ in order to achieve success is clearly flawed.
Hence I decided not to edit these pics and give them to you raw and honest, showcasing the real me, being a little weirdo in my bedroom before heading out the door.
Beauty is about individuality. It’s about looking yourself in the mirror, appreciating the temple that your body is, allowing you to wake up in the morning, hustle from day to night and continue to thrive. It’s about uniqueness and stepping outside the cookie cutter definition of beauty.
Let’s make a change and show the next generation that perfection does not equal beauty, but rather that imperfection does. Let’s celebrate intelligence, wit, curiosity, humor, strength, kindness and creativity instead. The attributes that are individual to us are what make us unique and therefore beautiful.
I promised you exciting news from the very start and since you made it this far, I won’t go any further into my discussion of redefining beauty, but rather lead you to… *drumroll please* the link of my very first episode of my podcast called “So Off Topic* with my dear friend Tahmina (who also happened to take these amazing shots).
After receiving such positive feedback from some of you, telling me how I’ve inspired you by being honest and vulnerable, sharing my true opinions on real-life issues from self-acceptance to sustainability, I wanted to create this platform to share even more of my views in a more conversational manner, hence I’m doing it with Tahmina with whom I have these conversations in real life.
I hope you enjoy our very first episode where we not only introduce ourselves, but are also sharing our journey to Self-Love. Morning commute, getting ready entertainment or nightcap, make sure to follow “So Off Topic” for two real girls sharing their raw and honest life experiences, looking to create a healthy and supportive community.