Beauty has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. I’ve marveled at how a mountaintop vista can take my breath away, how the beauty of a painting can bring me to tears, and how learning to embrace my own beauty, both challenges and frees me.
Lately, since Covid safety measures began in March, with the dwindling of occasions to dress up and be seen, my motivation to put a lot of intentionality into dressing has shifted in-sync. Despite my steadfast love for putting outfits together, and even despite my opinion that getting dressed up should be more for my own enjoyment rather than the eyes of others, I lack a desire to wear anything except for exercise leggings and smock dresses most days. On a typical morning these days, the comfort of my favorite lounge clothes fulfills more of what I need than dressing up in jeans, no matter how much I miss them!
In the midst of this time, where an outlet of beauty and creative expression has felt very different to me, I’ve been taking note of things I’m learning about beauty along the way. One thing I’ve been thinking a lot about is what exactly defines the moments where I feel beautiful and why? And how can I celebrate my beauty without the consistency of routines of style and make up I’d previously enjoyed? I’ve been thinking about this and I’ve taken note of when I’ve felt beautiful in seemingly random moments of living:
- After finishing workouts, sweaty, with blood rushing to my face and my hair frizzy. I feel proud of myself, but I also often feel really beautiful.
- Gardening, dirt under my fingernails and caked on my knees. Hair in a top-knot, skin flushed from time in the heat, and I feel beautiful.
- Painting on my back patio, every color of paint all over my hands. Creating in the spring breeze all day, I feel beautiful.
- Washing my face before bed, massaging my skin with gentle hands, looking into my own sleepy eyes in the mirror. I feel beautiful.
I read a quote by chef Alice Waters a few weeks ago and it’s stuck with me: “beauty is the language of care”. As I read her words, they jumped off the page and I thought of what I’ve been learning about beauty: how feeling beautiful is marked by much more than my outward appearance. Beauty is marked by the care and intentions we hold to ourselves and others.
The moments when I feel most beautiful are marked by times when I feel most alive and most at peace with myself. They are the times when I have cared and tended to myself and the world around me. When I think of beauty this way, it doesn’t surprise me that I feel beautiful in the rush of life I feel at the end of a workout, or after a day painting where I am captivated by creativity and expression. Moments that are filled with care and intention, whether it’s self-care, care for others, or care in the creative process, I believe have inherent beauty because of their celebration of life itself.
I wonder if maybe the times I feel beautiful when I put on makeup or put on an outfit I love, are markers of caring for myself by celebrating my unique beauty, rather than a result of altering my appearance. And I wonder if instead of celebrating beauty solely based in appearances, a true celebration of beauty is based in who we are becoming, and found in what makes us come alive.
I’m curious, what has made you feel beautiful lately? Please share in the comments below, I’d love to hear.
- How to Ground Yourself in Times of Uncertainty - December 8, 2020
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- Fall Fashion for Warm Climate Living - October 19, 2020
