You are more beautiful than you think!

How often do you check yourself out in the mirror and are not satisfied with what you see?

Every morning the same old story. You wake up and go to the bathroom. It’s time to get ready for the day. You look into the mirror and don’t like what you see. You don’t like the length of your hair and the color of your eyes. You have chubby cheeks and your lips are too thin. Those few extra pounds seem like the end of the world to you. You try not to think about your flaws and get ready. Throughout the day you stop at every mirror on your way to check yourself out again, for the hundredth time this day, just to make sure you look the best you can.

This is how millions of women feel every day around the globe. All of them are struggling with their looks. Women are their own worst beauty critics. According to a recent survey only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful. Isn’t this sad? 

The fashion industry sets bad examples for women, especially young girls. We are faced with top models having measurements 90-60-90. According to famous fashion designers and fashion magazines all women should have those measurements. All we see in runway shows are super thin women with no curves whatsoever. While watching “Germany’s next top model” on Wednesday I got very disappointed. In one scene Heidi Klum came to a young candidate with a measure tape. Note that the girl is only 16 years old! According to Heidi she had 98 cm around her hips when she came into the show and they wanted to see if she had lost those extra 8 cm. Even though she was working out very hard and watched what she was eating she managed to get 3 cm. Of course the jury wasn’t thrilled about it. But my point is, can you imagine something like that being aired on Wednesday evening in a show like that?  How must have girls felt after watching this show? They probably thought how fat they were. All this leads to anorexia and bulimia, two very serious illnesses that literally take lives of young girls. Do we really want our daughters to be growing up in a society like this one?

Dove posted on Monday a three-minute ad on YouTube that teaches a vital lesson about how we view ourselves compared to how others see us.  A former forensic artist met a series of women and asked each to describe the way they look. He had no way of seeing them behind a curtain. He prompted them to detail everything: hair length, facial structure, and their most prominent features. He then sketched each participant from their self-description. Each woman was asked before the study to get to know one of the other participants. The forensic artist then prompted each woman to describe the other's face. At the end of the video, the artist reveals two sketches — one from the participant itself, one from their partner. The differences are remarkable.

I don’t want to spoil the video for you so that’s why I am going to stop writing now. I think it’s a great video, one that has a very strong message. Take a look at it, trust me; it’s worth your time. :)

XOXO A.