Ready, Set, Shine: CL Girl’s Guide to Radiate Beauty from the Inside Out

Inner beauty is what shines and radiates to create outer beauty. This inner beauty is what makes someone “light up a room” with their happy glow. Every girl should know that she is beautiful in her own way. Sadly, not every girl feels this way and body image plays a huge role in this issue. Many women see the “thin” ideal as beautiful when they should be striving for the “healthy” ideal. The healthy ideal defines beauty within its wholesome values. To be healthy is to be strong, confident, genuine, and natural. These are the values girls should be striving for, not the media enforced stick-thin appearance. It is time to replace the negative body image with a healthy perspective. Here are some tips on how to be a beautiful co-ed from the inside out:

Do something nice for someone else every day. This can be anything from holding the door for a stranger, texting a sweet message to someone you care about (TSM Campaign), to volunteering a helping hand with some local community service. These types of activities take the focus away from yourself and reward you with the priceless feelings that come with making someone else feel happy.

Engage in something that makes you happy every day. Do something simple that makes you smile! You don’t have to set up an entire spa day to achieve this, just do something easy. This could mean calling up an old friend, listening to your favorite playlist, or simply sitting and doing nothing at all. Doing things for yourself will make you a more positive person overall.

Eat a healthy diet with all food groups included. Staying beautiful means taking adequate care of your body and eating lots of nutrients from a wide variety of foods. Stock your fridge with some nutritious foods to make this doable. You will feel energetic to go after your goals and make the most out of every day.

When you are feeling down about your body image, make a list of all of the wonderful aspects of your life. I guarantee that after you make a list of all of the positive aspects of your life, you will feel silly that you were sitting there worrying about your body image. Life has so much to offer and it isn’t worth it to miss out on meeting new people and engaging in opportunities because of a body image hang up. In place of this negativity you can focus your energy on loved ones and passions in your life.

Exercise a healthy amount. Exercise to be fit, strong and heart healthy, not to get skinny. Aim for at least thirty minutes of physical activity a day, and make sure to incorporate strength training and cardio! If you have the motive to achieve optimal fitness, then maintaining an appropriate weight will take care of itself. Be a strong and sassy CL girl!

Inspire yourself. You can get inspired with a few clicks on the internet. There are many savvy websites and blogs that offer motivational quotes and stories. There might be one quote that really hits home and reminds you of the core importance of life instead of getting caught up in your appearance. If you find an especially fabulous quote, write it on a post-it note and place it in a spot where you will frequently see it. It will remind you to feel confident, poised, and beautiful. Read more about the campaign, Operation Beautiful, which has a mission to end fat talk and negative body image one post-it note at a time. An excellent book to inspire this life positivity is “The Nine Rooms of Happiness” by Lucy Danziger and Catherine Birndorf.

Take some time out to learn something new. Spend some time improving yourself as a person and increasing your knowledge. This will raise your self confidence and allow you to delve into topics you might not have discovered before. Learning about your interests will only further you in your ambitions and make your quality of life better!

Remember to always strive for health over the thin fad. Life is full of opportunities, so use some of these tips to let your true inner beauty shine!

Maggie Young is a sophomore at the University of Kansas studying Journalism. She is passionate about living a healthy life and thinks that more energy should be focused on the positive aspects of life instead of negative body image talk. Live it up