“People are starting to go on about my weight but I'm not going to change my size because they don't like the way I look.” When you think “beauty” what do you think about? I bet most will say outer beauty--how a person looks and dresses and smells. That’s what many people look at once they see Adele, from who this quote comes from. Since her debut, she has struggled with the press and even her fans over her size. According to her, she has always been a size 16-18 and she’s okay with that. She would rather be happy than to care about her weight. There’s still the fact that, even though Adele is content with how she looks, others are not. Is society that influential that it has distorted our views on what true beauty is and has made us question those who are stunning in their own ways? What you wear doesn’t make you any less beautiful than you already are. Whether you’re a size 2 or a size 18 doesn’t make you any less beautiful than you already are. How much make up you apply doesn’t make you any less beautiful than you already are. What society has done is set up an image of perfect and real beauty that isn’t true. If society is wrong, then what should beauty really be defined as?


Everyday when I walk into the bathroom at school, I see girls applying eye liner or fixing their hair or checking themselves out. It’s not because they think they look good or because they’re conceited. It’s because they’re preparing themselves for the people that they have to face in the hallways. Women and even men are constantly faced with the pressure of having to look their best. They have to have the brightest eyes and the fullest lips. No hair can be out of place and you have to be dressed to impress. Any girl wearing sweatpants is ugly. Any girl with her hair in a ponytail and no makeup on is ugly. Any guy or girl not wearing the latest fashion is ugly. Society has set these images up beauty not fit everyday life.


Have you ever realized what the pressure to be perfect can do to someone? It really, for lack of better phrase, screws with people’s minds. Being perfect is not an attainable goal. It just isn’t possible, yet, because of society, people strive to achieve it. It can lead to things such as OCD, depression, and eating disorders. It takes a toll on a person’s mind. Self harm rates go up because people don’t believe that they’re beautiful. Men and women starve themselves because they believe that being fit and a size 2 is the most perfect way to be. Minds start to take a hold of this portrait of beauty and drum ideas into a person that it’s the only way to be. Its effects can be tremendous but no one realizes it. What we need is an action. What we need is a dream.


My vision for the future is that everyone will see the true beauty within them. Everyone has something to bring to the table and they should embrace those qualities. You don’t need to be more outgoing or more pretty or more skinner than anyone else around you. Who you are makes you beautiful. My desire for the future is that we won’t have societies definition of beauty splattered on television and magazines everywhere. The world is so blind to beauty because of the way that society presents beauty to us. We see beauty as a size two, 6 pack, perfect face caked with makeup, and designer clothes, but that’s not what beauty is. It can be seen in everything. A size 19 is gorgeous. Natural beauty is the best kind. You can rock sweatpants and still be beautiful. What we need on magazines are these beauties. We need to let people know that just because they don’t look a certain way doesn’t mean that they aren’t beautiful. I have an aspiration for the future that we will learn to embrace beauties from all different sizes, races, genders, and minds.

You are beautiful despite these false accusations. You don’t need to cake your face with makeup to be a beautiful person. You don’t constantly have to worry about wearing the best clothes to be a beautiful person. You are beautiful just by being you and no one, not even a definition set by society, can tell you different.