The Power of Belief

I watched I Feel Pretty this weekend. It's not a very good movie but it was mildly entertaining. The concept that drove it, however? Powerful.

In this entirely mediocre film, low self esteem "regular" looking Renee (Amy Schumer) takes a blow to the head, and when she comes to, she finds herself stunning.  As a result of her new-found self confidence, she gains a boyfriend, takes down a bikini contest in a bar, and flawlessly carries out a front-facing job at a high-end cosmetics giant. Her delusion ends with insulting her "normal" friends and when she again gets knocked out unconscious she goes back to her old self-doubt until she realizes she never physically changed, she just changed how she looked at herself.

Despite the bland nature of the film and the erroneous conclusion that it takes a traumatic brain injury for women to love themselves, the message is a powerful one: beauty is in confidence, not in what you actually look like. Belief in yourself literally transforms what happens in  your life.

I am not recommending you run out and see this flick. I am challenging you and me to look at what we see when we look at ourselves in the mirror.

20 years and 50 pounds ago, I still had issues with seeing my own beauty. I could point it out in others in a heartbeat, though. Not just the stereotypical magazine cover beauty, but also the inner glow that certain people have that comes from being completely comfortable in their body regardless of shape, and mind regardless of social standing, career, or what other people think.

What do you think you could do if you thought you were not only beautiful, but capable of reaching any dream, any romantic relationship, any goal your beautiful mind conjured up as wanting? Is life easier for those who unquestionably accept they are a gift to whoever chooses to associate with them?
I suspect the answer is yes.

Renee and this movie is an extreme and dramatized version of the "what if you believed you were beautiful?" theory. I found myself relating just a tiny bit to the delusional Renee. I have accepted my body as it is. I buy and wear things that look good (whereas I spent much of my life wearing large clothes in an attempt to hide myself). I won't be flaunting it any time soon, but I have no more reason to shrink into the background, unworthy of notice. I am intelligent. I am funny. I am kind.

I am pretty.
And so are you.