Be Real, Don't Conceal: Update

(Pulled from my journal)

It’s amazing how great it feels to throw on some clothes and just walk out of house, not worrying about what your face looks like, knowing that your face just looks like your face. It just makes you feel so remarkable to be out and about all day and know that your face looks the same way it looked that morning (except there’s probably pizza sauce around your mouth because you’re not the most elegant of eaters). Being makeup free has does something unexplainable to me. It’s made me feel extremely comfortable in my own skin. It’s created a confidence in myself on a level that I have never before experienced.

Over the past couple of years, I have been on this sort of self-journey and have found myself growing distant from the materialistic aspects of the world. Being makeup free has reinforced that distance. Falling in love with my natural, beautiful self has made me focus on improving and noticing the other aspects that make me beautiful.  Being makeup free may not seem like a big deal to you but as I’ve had to overcome the worst breakouts of my life this year due to humidity or hormones changes or something my dermatologist cant quite determine, I’ve had to challenge myself to walk out and be proud of the fact that I am not defined by my shell. I have gotten to know the dustiest corners of my soul and realized that who I am has nothing to do at all with my external appearance. For the first time in my life, it’s like I know exactly who I am.  I’m not saying that going makeup free is going to do this to all of you, because I don’t believe that this journey of epiphanies has happened from my lack of makeup alone. It’s what has come from it. My thoughts and actions have been inspired by it. It started as this little seed, and it started a movement in my life.

The first step is realizing that your shell does not define you. The steps that follow are you figuring out what you ARE defined by. If you aren’t sure, then figure out what you WANT to be defined by, and figure out the steps you need to take to get there.  Before all else, I want to be defined by my relationship with Jesus Christ. I know that my insurmountable Joy, passion and love come from him. They are my greatest gifts, the thing that make me beautiful. I’m not trying to be conceited by listing the things that I’m good at, but for the first time in my life, I’m 100% confident in those things. I know what I want to do and who I want to be, and it was all clarified the moment that I realized that none of those things have anything to do with my skin or with my bones. They stem from my soul, which will linger longer then my flesh ever could, and that is one of the most beautiful things I could possibly imagine.