Beauty Begins the Moment You Decide to be Yourself

You've hear this phrase before, right?  But you know what, it's really true.  Unfortunately I don't think most of us realize how powerful it is to fully embrace who we  genuinely are until much later in our lives like around our 40's or 50's.  Studies show that most women do not feel comfortable in their own skin on average until the age of 42, and that our younger years, although more energetic, are filled with insecurity, worrying about what others think, and simply just trying to fit in.  Who knows, maybe by age 42 we've  expended so much energy on others that we finally give ourselves permission to just be who we are without the worry of what others think.  Or maybe we're all just so tired by that age....I know I am....that we just say screw it, this is who I am, take it or leave it and decide it's just too exhausting to be anyone other than our true selves.  But when-ever, or why-ever we come to this realization it is incredibly powerful and freeing.  You can't help but look back though and wish that you had come to this revelation about yourself sooner in your life.

So, this was the thinking behind this month's iBbeautiful package.  To help start a budding realization within teen and tween girls that it is incredibly important and empowering to get to know the real you. They cannot start early enough on this type of awareness of themselves. In reality this is a tall order.  As kids in school they are told to "behave" a certain way, in the outside world they get criticized when they don't act like others or "fit in", and in the virtual world they are bombarded with constant images of people with perfect bodies, makeup, clothing, and seemingly no problems.  How is it even possible to figure out who you really are when you're faced with all that?  At least as adults we're given some room to be who we are, to have likes and dislikes and not be criticized for not acting like everyone else.

So, how do we go about helping our teen and tween girls find their real selves?  Our efforts can't be obvious because they are at the age where as their parents we "don't know ANYTHING", so our efforts have to be subtle and gentle and a little bit stealth. Listen for the times they may clue you into something that happened during their day or tell you about making a decision outside of their normal tribe of friends and take that opportunity to shine a light on how it was awesome that they listened to their own inner voice in making a decision that was best for them.  Sometimes they don't realize it was their inner voice prompting them to take a different path and they may need you to help them realize it.  Continually nudge them to check in with themselves as to their true feelings and to make their decisions based on what their gut is telling them as opposed to the crowd.  

The other day my own daughter asked me to say three compliments about her.  I turned that around by telling her I wanted to hear her say three compliments about herself.  The look on her face was really interesting, as if she had never thought to compliment herself, as if compliments only could come from the outside.  So, she actually did come up with three compliments and I have to say the look on her face was everything.  The whole experience was very affirming and empowering for her.  This is the best thing we can do for our daughters by teaching them to look inside for the beauty that is within them and not to allow the outside world to dictate who they are.

We know you've all received your packages for this month already and after a lot of hard work curating and packing on our end we truly hope that not only were the packages a bit of delight for your girls, but a lot of inspiration as well.

Wishing you all self love and confidence - 

XOXO - Team iBbeautiful