A Moment in My Life – Wednesday, February 10, 2021
I hear you chuckling. Don’t be shy. I know we all want to know the key to beauty and sex appeal. It becomes more evident with each passing year as we get a teeny bit older. Okay, honestly, age has little to do with this desire. Let’s face it. We want it, period. How we look mattered when we were little kids in school. It was important when we were teens, young adults, and every age after that. It just matters. Maybe more than it should, but that’s the blatant truth. We all want to be beautiful and sexy, and we are, in our unique ways. It’s just hidden beneath layers and layers of whatever. That whatever is different for each of us.
I recently learned that how we look has a lot to do with everything that goes on, or doesn’t go on, in our lives, from our DNA to our diets, sleep habits, lifestyle choices, including whether we smoke or drink, to how we handle stress. Stress plays a significant role in our wellness. Who woulda thunk that? Had I known, I would have taken stress management more seriously. When I attended the 3-hour wellness seminar, I considered skipping the stress hour to shave off some time from the workshop. I thought I had stress under control and didn’t need more information. I worked hard finding parking, so I decided to sit through the last hour and hear what the speaker had to say. In hindsight, the most pivotal takeaway for me was the stress management techniques I learned that day, along with the impact stress has on our cells. That was a life-changing seminar.
Conquering stress wasn’t enough, though. I am learning that everything we do affects and shows on our skin. Maybe not immediately but in time. That means that we can’t hide or lie about how we treat ourselves. Scary, right? It makes sense that everything in our body works together. I know I’ve been starving myself from sleep, and that’s one of my top priorities this week, along with getting back into a steady workout routine. I began working on my diet habit a while ago, and I slowly add a block of improvement to my foundation each week. How we go about improving our wellness is subjective, so I won’t go there. The bottom line is to improve our lifestyle as a whole: diet, sleep, water, exercise, and stress management.
In most health articles, that’s where it ends. Additionally, we need to do a little more for our skin health, which is the bottom line for beauty. I loved suntanning growing up without considering the damage it would do to my skin, from aging it prematurely to tattooing my skin with dark spots. Ugh. That’s my archenemy. I’ve spent a pretty penny on products to eradicate the dark spots to no avail. Now, I learned that I need to keep my skin clean and healthy, and in doing so, that would allow my cells to work as I clean; it would restore my skin from the inside out. Our good lifestyle habits work with our skincare habits to present the best us possible. And, most importantly, I am now an advocate for sunscreen!
When we look in the mirror, the reflection we see will make or break us. We’ve all been there. I’ve had days when I did not like what I saw. Oh, that would be most days, but once I began taking better care of myself, the reflection in the mirror no longer made me cringe. I’m not saying that I suddenly see a supermodel in the mirror, but I see the best me possible at that moment. I see a healthier glow, and that gives me hope. Simply taking steps to treat me better, my demeanor improved.
The other day, I ran errands feeling good inside and smiling throughout the trip. It felt like I walked around with my personal sun radiating everything near me, sprinkling sunshine on everybody around me. Everybody smiled back in response. I didn’t know why that was happening, but I loved it. I felt great. I felt beautiful from the inside out. After I began reading Dr. Harold Lancer’s book “Younger,” I understood why.
This quote says it all, “Your own self-image is the key to beauty. If you are confident, full of life, and passionate, you will be irresistible; you are more than what you see in the mirror. If you are self-conscious, insecure, and trying too hard, you will telegraph your poor self-image to everyone in countless unspoken ways. If you feel good about yourself, people will respond positively to you. Self-acceptance and confidence are the foundation of beauty—and sex appeal.”
I am encouraged by this quote. I won’t lie. I’m one of those people who strived to be beautiful with sex appeal, failing miserably. Sure, I have images of certain celebrities I am obsessed to resemble at one time or another. Beauty and sex appeal are subjective. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It’s true. Meaning, you can’t please everybody. Ultimately, the only person we should please is ourselves. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror, and it’s essential we like what we see. Remember, beauty and sex appeal are subjective. Beauty radiates from the inside out—the body functions as a team. Treat your team well, and you will know the key to beauty and sex appeal.
