Beauty Is Only Skin Deep

Watching the Emmys and the beautiful people, it reminded me of a time when you made me feel less of myself, a time when I was young and naive. You would call me ugly, and I would feel the insecurity deep in my core, at a time when I was struggling with teenage hormones and acne, and I wondered how my friends were so pretty when I was not?

 

You made me feel ugly with your relentless teasing, but eventually along the way, it made me realize that beauty truly is only skin deep.

 
It's not about the clothes that you wear; they will never make up for dark hearts and ugly tongues. 

 

It's not about the smoothness of your skin; it will never replace the value of the wrinkles of laugh lines from good times shared.
 

It's not about looking beautiful; when the true value is the strength you carry inside you. 

 

I was lucky to have friends that were both beautiful on the inside and outside, who pooh-poohed at my insecurities and loved me exactly the way I was. I was lucky that I was not interested in dating so early on, and that I did not hold myself to standards to live up to the expectations of others. I was lucky that I learnt to love myself, that when I grew up and learnt to present myself to the world in a fashion that one would call pretty, it was all from self love.
 

I escaped your bullying unscathed, and became stronger for it. 

 

Today, I value those lessons; and I hope it is a lesson that you have learnt too. We are all what we allow ourselves to be; and no one should ever make you feel any less than you are.