Real Beauty for Real Women

Do you believe the lies about beauty and confidence that our culture promotes 24 hours a day, 365 days a year? The lies that say you must be young and thin to be beautiful? That show altered images of women but pretend they are real? That say you must buy this product and this one and this one in order to feel beautiful or confident?

I believe them, even though I know they’re lies. And I think that most other women believe them too. Because they’re loud and persistent and powerful. And they tell us that normal women aren’t attractive, and that real beauty for real women doesn’t exist.

If you tend to believe our culture’s lies about women and beauty and confidence, let’s work together to reduce their power. Let’s focus instead on believing in real beauty for real women.

Let’s work on taking care of and loving the bodies God gave us. Let’s work on teaching our daughters, granddaughters, nieces and the other girls and young women in our lives that they are beautiful and strong. Let’s work on believing that we are “enough” – pretty enough, thin enough, confident enough.

And then let’s live as if it’s really true.

If you need encouragement in your journey to stop believing the lies and start feeling beautiful and confident, here are some articles I hope will encourage you to focus on real beauty for real women, and your own real beauty in particular:

• 5 Ways to Feel More Attractive – Beauty and Confidence for Real Women – Here are 5 simple things you can do to embrace, enhance and believe in your beauty.

• You are Beautiful! 5 Simple Ways to Feel More Attractive – #3 may surprise you, but it’s really important!

• 3 Reasons to Love Your Body – 3 important things we do for ourselves, and messages we send to others, when we love our own bodies.

• 11 Ways to Love Your Body – 11 simple things every woman can do to begin loving her body.

• How to Feel More Sensual – Simple Ideas for Busy Wives and Moms

• Beauty is a Package. It’s the way you look + the way you feel + the way you treat others + the way you treat yourself.

• Beauty and Confidence for Real Women – A Few More Thoughts. Includes a link to one of the Dove “Beauty Sketches” – it’s a very powerful message about the ways others see our beauty, but we don’t see it ourselves.

In addition, J. Parker at Hot, Holy and Humorous has a great series that encourages all wives to work on feeling beautiful this year

Do you believe in real beauty for real women? What has helped you to feel beautiful and confident? Or do you still struggle in that area? Please share your thoughts in the Comments – I would love to hear from you.