Dear Glow Girls,
Somewhere along the way, my idea of beautiful changed.
DCC Armani said:
“It’s hard trying to figure out your version of what a beauty standard is when you look around and your best friends, they have hair and you don’t.“
That got me thinking.
What really is beauty? What is beautiful?
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
But there are a lot of things that a big group of people agree on that are beautiful.
So, is that what beautiful is? What the majority agrees on?
But there are also things, standards of beauty from different places in the world that are different from what most people deem beautiful.
Does that mean their idea of beauty is wrong?
This issue has made me do a deep dive into my own standards of beauty.
Charlotte Mason believed that children should be surrounded by what is whole, beautiful, and worthy.
She said we shouldn’t keep chipped mugs or plates, torn books, broken toys at home. Basically anything broken, ugly, or careless objects in a child’s environment because it quietly teaches them that that’s acceptable.
I think that’s why I’ve kept so many ugly, broken things and people in my life because that’s how I grew up.
It was okay to keep using a chipped mug or plate.
It was okay to keep pens that keep stopping midway writing.
It was okay to keep stained things even though they’re very ugly already.
It was okay to keep energy vampires,
people who take you for granted,
people who take advantage of you,
people who are only there when they need something from you.
But now I know, it’s not okay.
And it shouldn’t have been okay.
I certainly don’t want that to be my son’s standard.
And I don’t want it to be my standard anymore.
I want to be surrounded by beautiful things.
My beautiful things.
Things and people that I deem beautiful.
I don’t want to listen to the world anymore about their definition of beauty.
My standard of beauty is now based on my life
what works,
what functions,
what helps me get through the day easier,
what my body accepts,
what my standards accept,
what my beliefs accept,
what gives me joy,
makes me feel loved,
something worth writing about.
And I’ve noticed.
The more I surround myself with beautiful things,
the more I feel calm, happy, regulated.
The more I purge the ugly things from my life,
the less friction I feel.
There’s no more twinge in my chest from seeing them.
This issue is for all the ladies who have been searching for beauty, to the young girls who are confused about what beautiful is, and to the woman who got so tired that she has forgotten what beautiful is.
I was that woman, too.
And you don’t have to be that woman anymore.
Maybe beauty was never about having more.
Or having what’s trending.
Or what’s expensive.
Or what everyone has.
Maybe it was always about choosing better.
What we keep.
What we return to.
What we allow to stay.
Because in the quiet of our spaces…
we are always teaching ourselves how to live.
And DCC Armani? She’s beautiful.
Hair or no hair.
Enjoy this issue, Glow Girls.
And as you read each piece, I hope you find your version of beauty, too.
—-
With elegance and quiet fire,
Lady E
Founder, Glow by Lady E
An editorial space for stories, art, and intentional living
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