Redefine Beauty

Let’s redefine beauty.  Today, I shine this light for all the survivors that I’ve spoken with in these past few days.  Some have been my personal lighthouses from the get-go, and others have joined the battlefield around the same time as me.  To each and every one of you reading, please hear me loudly and clearly: you are beautiful!  Every single one of you has a light that radiates out into the bleak storm more than you know. 

Wrinkles, scars…they’re memories.  They are marks placed upon our bodies that show that we’ve lived, that we’re strong.  Here’s where we redefine beauty, and it applies to us all.

It’s easy to criticize and compare, to mourn for what we’ve lost or to yearn for what we lack.  It’s easy to fuel anger and judgement while ridiculing our differences and vulnerabilities.  But ya’ll, I own this body that houses me.  It is mine.  It belongs to me and no other.  It is what carries ME through this life, and every scrape, every bruise, every scar (visible and invisible) that it keeps belongs to me too.  They are mine.  This is me.  This body is MY boat, my vehicle that affords me life.  This is who I am…down to the stiches that have sewn me together.  No matter the shape, no matter the size, no matter the losses or the scars, the fact that my body is still here, still breathing, that it still carries me day after day and year after year is perhaps the most beautiful thing that I could ever dream up. 

Embrace your own bodies, your own scars.  Hug, kiss, and bless the brokenness that makes you.  Your body is the vessel that carries you through life; and that in and of itself makes it one of the most coveted and beautiful things in the world.  So, take care of it; protect it; love it; and do not apologize for any piece of it.

Our light continues to shine; our lives continue to forward with the sacredness of our ships, our bodies.  No matter the form, they are powerful and beautiful beyond compare. 

I’m braving my own vulnerabilities, and in efforts to pull the curtains of shame away from the next set of warriors, I’ve given my photographer permission to showcase this raw honesty and truth.  We may get banged up and bruised on our journeys, but we are still journeying.  Celebrate that strength and that beauty, for it belongs to us all.  You are much more than any scar, and you are beautiful as is.