“I don’t want to die without any scars”
Fight Club
Pretty is a complex web of misguided social and cultural pursuits of perfection. Pretty is a carefully orchestrated and artfully crafted illusion of assimilation. Pretty fears abrasion. Pretty does not delve within to find authenticity. It is deeply susceptible to the opinions of others and lacks the power to spiritually nourish. Being pretty is hard, misguided work. Pretty is destructive. Pretty isn’t limited to appearance.
We indulge girls with tools to look pretty before we indulge their intellects or ambitions. We validate their prettiness before we validate their spirit. Gradually, we thread and glue together prettiness with self-worth.
Pretty is alluring for a moment, authentic beauty is alluring for a lifetime.
Never dress to feel pretty. Dress to feel strong, dress to feel confident. You’re not a spectacle to contemplate, you’re a warrior on a battlefield called life.
Celebrate the discord. Inquire, seek, find, repeat. Celebrate the questions that cause restlessness and find stillness inside your spirit. Celebrate your personal dichotomy. Be beautiful, be generous, be smart, be curious. Never be fully baked. Never be perfect. Never be pretty.
“You don’t owe prettiness to anyone…prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked female”
Erin McKean
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