Every few weeks I wonder what my next post will be about and I often find I don't need to give it much thought as something inspiring usually shows up. And just when I started to think perhaps nothing was coming this week - this gem popped up and it's thanks once again to Dove who continue to just get it right. This time their campaign centres on our own perception of what we think we are. Beautiful or Average?
Eeesh. Now if that's not a loaded question then I don't know what is. In some cultures we are taught to 'act as if' and 'fake it till you make it' - look at the American Idol auditions for example, while in others you can take hours to get ready for a big event and when a group of women tell you how much they love your dress and how lovely you look, you get end up looking at them like they're insane and telling them how much you paid for it in the sale and showing them your Spanx in the bathroom. Yes. I've done this. More than once.
This ad leaves me with such a confused feeling, because while we are told to see our real, true beauty or success, we are also told not to shout about it, (another 'selfie' anyone?). We live in a world where we are getting some very mixed signals and it's not surprising that most women walked through the average door - even if they didn't actually believe it... because interestingly I think sometimes it's our fear of acknowledging the good things others tell you that has us all a little uncertain. Sometimes you want to run naked with flowers, (a not so toned butt) and stardust in your hair through the beautiful door, but you don't, because "what will they all think?"
What I did notice about this ad was that it seemed to take a mother or a friend to literally 'push' their friend through the beautiful door. And isn't this just the case in life? How we see such incredible beauty in the ones we love. We don't see the size of their jeans just the size of their heart.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/323555554453531525/
I think I know enough about the way this world works to know that even with the best intentions in our hearts, we may be a way off walking through the beautiful door everyday - BUT what we can do and must do as much as possible is push the people we love through that door. To applaud beauty or a skill, or creativity or parenting or study or kindness without feeling like it diminishes us by doing so is such a lesson. One I don't feel enough people learn. Too often someone else's wedding photos or baby or new job or hair brings out the ugly in others, and that's why people quietly shuffle through the average door. For fear of making other people uncomfortable.
I have a selection of incredible friends who constantly push me through the beautiful door, and on days when I feel stupid, useless, ugly, somewhat bloated and insane. They are the lights that twinkle through that fog and sometimes it doesn't matter if I believe in the door - they do. And that dear friends - that is one of the biggest gifts of love we can receive.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/301600506271730274/
So don't worry about what door YOU would choose, just go out there today, either at work, on a plane, in a restaurant or on Instagram and go give a compliment, applaud their success no matter how small or big and shove the people you love (or even a total stranger) through the beautiful door. And somehow in the end, we all get to walk through it.
x Jo