Beauty and the pursuit of perfection

Since I was a little girl, I have been enamored with beauty. Anything that helped achieve the glamorous looks I adored fascinated me. Makeup, with the shimmery colors in every shade of the rainbow always reminded me of an artist's palette. Many times when I put on my makeup I still think, "What do I want to paint today?"

Sometimes, though, trying to achieve our own ideal of beauty becomes more of a struggle than a joy. Many women have found it is too easy to fall prey to society's demands for perfection. We might see celebrities who appear to have it all together, with perfect hair, makeup, and bodies. It can be hard enough to admit to ourselves that we won't ever look that way (at least without trainers, stylists, and perhaps some plastic surgery), but what about when the people close to us pass judgement on our appearance? I'm blessed to have a significant other who doesn't care how I paint my face (or if I wear makeup at all), so for me the pressure to look perfect is only in my own head. But I've spoken to women who say that their partners expect them to look a certain way, from the over-the-top glamorous look to the barest touch of cosmetics.

When did beauty become a chore? At what point in our lives does our beauty routine cease to be "playing with makeup" and become pressure to look good at all costs? My hope is that we all can find beauty within ourselves as well as others. As the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi states, there is beauty in imperfection. We can begin by appreciating this imperfect beauty in our environment if it is too difficult to embrace within ourselves.

I want to share a story that illustrates this philosophy. Last year my SO and I adopted another kitty. We went to see her at the rescue several times before we decided to adopt her, because we wanted to be sure she'd be a good fit with us and with our other cat. The cat seemed very laid-back and docile, and we figured she'd just lounge around all day. However, once we got her home, she was full of energy and very playful (sometimes to the extreme). We wondered for a bit whether this adoption was really going to work after all, but realized that once we let go of our expectations for what the cat should be, she was absolutely perfect for us.

The connection to the theme of beauty is this: I think that if we can learn to let go of our expectations for how we should look (the pursuit of perfection), we too can achieve the realization that we are perfect in our imperfection, just as we are. As for me, I want to always keep that child-like fascination and joy that I once felt when I discovered the world of beauty. I aim to enjoy the art of makeup yet feel comfortable as I am, rather than fall prey to pressures to look a certain way.