Beauty that Matters

I'm a nature lover and I specifically like taking photographs of lovely flowers. Their assorted and vibrant colors always brings a smile to my face and I can't help myself from capturing photos to keep a remembrance for myself.

But while hanging on the garden today, I saw this withered flowers which I would usually ignore when taking photographs. It looks gorgeous even though it is already dried and withered. Looking at this dried flower makes me think about how humans are.

People tend to look and admire beautiful things only. In today's world, a lot of people are too focused in the outer appearance and beauty of a person. Yes, being young and beautiful is a positive aspect of life, but should we only focus on our outer appearance? Like these flowers, people will also grow old, their beauty will wither and the once vibrant and beautiful physical appearance will no longer be visible. So it is vital that we focus on our inner beauty. In accordance to a bible passage that says we should focus on 'the secret person of the heart', we should try to improve our inner beauty instead because that's what matters the most. Even if we grow old, wither and die, we will surely still be remembered and loved because of our good personality and being.

The society tends to give so much importance to outer appearance. I once heard a story about two women who both applied for the same position in a specific company. The other one is smart and have all the qualifications needed for the job, but the problem is: she's not pretty. While the other applicant is a gorgeous lady who looks like a model and possess a heart shaped angelic face, but the problem is, she not that smart. She can't even answer some questions properly and the numbers on her transcript is nothing compared to the first applicant. But guess who got the job? If you guessed that it's the second applicant, the pretty one, then you are absolutely right! That's the reality in the world today. Success seems to depend on how a person looks.

And to achieve the good looks and sexy body that people will admire, some women starve themselves to death thinking that being thin will make them prettier. Focusing on beauty and outer appearance is not only limited to women. A lot of men are also obsessed to get the perfect body that women will surely adore. They spend long hours in the gym to achieve that six packs abs that everyone will drool over.

But are these really worth it? Let's see.

A popular saying goes like this: 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. This is really true because being beautiful involves more than being slim or chubby, having pimples or none, being short or tall or being black or white. Whatever your looks may be, someone will surely appreciate you and will say you're beautiful in their own perspective. Indeed, every one of us is beautiful in our own ways.

Do you know that focusing too much on your physical appearance has some negative impacts?

Consider the following points:

• We can be a puppet of the media and advertising industry. Media and advertisements makes it look like we can only be beautiful if be buy and use specific products that they advertise. They usually make the advertisements very attractive to convince people to spend lots of money for a certain beauty product and some even spends millions just to make themselves look beautiful or handsome.

• Striving to achieve the ideal image that others will adore doesn't always guarantee ideal results. Consider the example of one Filipino celebrity. Several years ago, he was bullied by millions of netizens because they said that he looks 'terribly ugly'. Some famous doctors offered to give him surgery to enhance his looks, and he agreed. Months later after the surgery, he surprised the netizens again with his new look. He looks like a heartthrob now, and he got the looks that others will envy. Did the netizens like him for his physical change? Well, other liked his new looks but still, he was bullied by a lot of people and this time, not because of his physical appearance but because he is too proud and full of himself. So this shows how important it is to have a beautiful personality along with our physical beauty.

• Being obsessed with our outer appearance will lead to acquiring eating disorders and later on makes us unhealthy and sick. Some women who try so hard to get the perfect body usually ends up suffering from eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.

These are only few of the negative impacts of being too focused on our outer beauty.

What's the beauty that matters the most?

As I already mentioned earlier, the beauty that matters the most is our inner beauty. We may not escape the deteriorating effect of sickness and getting older, but inner beauty is long-lasting and will even lead to a happier and contented life.Inner beauty can also attract people. Some are more drawn to a simple looking lady who is kind, loving and possesses other good qualities than a lady who knows nothing except from keeping herself pretty. People will love us more because of our good personality. But, does this mean that we should not take care of ourselves and our physical appearance? Of course not! Of course, we can still try to make ourselves beautiful to be more confident and satisfied of our looks. But we should have a balanced view when in comes to appearance. So let us all strive to be beautiful inside and out. - @thepandagirl 🐼