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Glad you asked. Personally, I love asking questions, and I really love going deeper into people’s lives, so this spring I’m doing a series (maybe one post every few weeks) called ‘Beautiful Women on the Inside (and the Outside)’. Partly because I want to redefine how the media sees beauty, even if these ladies are what the world calls ‘attractive’, and partly because I think it’s enriching to go behind the scenes to see what creates true beauty. I have a diverse line-up so far including:
– Miss Asia USA who had debilitating chronic pain; – An artist, grad student, mum-of-three brain tumour survivor; – A life coach who has a chronic illness; – An African-American social worker and director of a relief and development organisation; – A British cop who worked on the streets of London; and – A humanitarian aid worker who lived in Haiti, just to name a few.
This series isn’t just for women (don’t shy away guys, as I want to interview a few men in a different series later on), though I hope it will address universal issues women face. What I love about all these women, besides the fact that they are friends of mine, is that they have weathered storms and lived to tell about it.
It has been interesting even to read some of the responses after I asked them to be in this. A few of them feel like they don’t ‘have it together’, and they feel more like of a mess than ‘beautiful’. No one likes to feel like a mess, I certainly don’t, but isn’t that makes them real, approachable, and inspiring?
When I paint, or use pastels, or create a piece of art, the process is always a mess – even up to the very end. And despite the mess it took to get there, it turns into something beautiful, and something that others can appreciate (or I throw it away b/c it was a disastrous blob, but that isn’t the point I’m trying to make is it??). Anyhow, real life is messy, and I don’t want to shy away from it.
So stayed tuned in the next few weeks, as I will be posting my first interview with Diane, Miss Asia USA.
This is a great quote about beauty, and I believe it sums it up well:
“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” ― Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
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