What is beauty? #IWILL #FitFluential

This post is sponsored by Under Armour through FitFluential.

What is beauty?

For as long as women have asked themselves this question, the answer they have been given has never really been the same. Even when we looks to others to help define it for us, we still have no real clear idea of what it is, not really.

Scientists typically break it down to genetics or perhaps even relate it to the appeal of a person's facial symmetry. There is an abundant amount of research out there attempting to do just that, define what is beautiful. Yet we are no closer to finding that answer today then we were when we first attempted to take it apart and analyze it.

Artists look at beauty even more differently then scientists. From Picasso to Monet, there is no clear distinction between what each artist has seen as beautiful and how they themselves portray that same beauty to the public through their art. This shows us that there really is truth to beauty being in the eye of the beholder. Just take a stroll though an art gallery and you will see that people will gravitate towards some styles more so then others.

However, despite this realization, women continue to attempt to define beauty for themselves and strive to become that ideal version of beauty that they feel others are looking for. In fact, we spend billions of dollars each year trying to create it, keep it, or fake it. Perhaps, we have had it all wrong. Maybe, just maybe, we have had the answers all along deep down inside of ourselves, in places that we never thought to look before.

For me there is nothing more beautiful in a woman that shows inner strength, courage, humor, and empathy for others. These are all things that cannot really be defined by science or accurately portrayed by any artists as they are internal and very subjective. Yet, it is beautiful to see a woman surpass tremendous odds with style and grace, having the courage to do something that is risky or uncertain, and all the while being able to laugh at the inevitable foibles that will occur as she does so. A woman who faces a challenge (physcial or emotional)  head on, not without fear, but in spite of it. This type of beauty is not really anything that can be seen, but rather an intangible essence that we each posess but demonstrate in our own unique way.

Much of my life I spent not feeling beautiful because I did not understand this concept. The reason? I have had an overbite well into my thirties. I always took compliments given to me with a grain of salt. Not feeling that I could really believe anyone that said I was pretty as really being honest about it because I focused so much on the physical things that I thought others would notice and not like about me. Getting my teeth corrected as adult was much more for me then any external benefits I will get out of it. It was overcoming a demon I have had since childhood. It was about getting past something that I felt always had held me back in some way. To put to rest those mean kids that would make fun of my teeth at school. To me it is much more about overcoming it then looking a certain way, though I am excited to see the results. [I will have my braces removed on May 29th]

I am now very much about changing my perception of how I feel about myself, and to hopefully inspire others to start thinking about their own self-perceptions. To identify things we don't like is fine, but we need to also look at the things about ourselves that truly make us beautiful.