How the beauty ideal has changed over the years

The female beauty ideal has changed drastically over the past 100 years. Marilyn Monroe represented the beauty ideal in the 50's and women would eat weight-gaining pills to try to look like her. Ten years later the ideal was no longer to be curvy but to be skinny like Twiggy. The 80's beauty ideal was all about being fit and then in the 90's it changed again and women wanted to be skinny like Kate Moss.

Today social media and Hollywood present us with a beauty ideal that is all about perfection. Women are encouraged to strive towards having no wrinkles, a thigh gap, a big butt like the Kardashians and at the same time a Victoria's Secret model body that is thin and fit. There's more pressure on women than ever before and it's leading some women to start taking botox in their twenties. Other young women are getting plastic surgery to make their butt bigger and many are developing eating disorders from going on strict diets.

I remember being very unsatisfied with my own looks in my early twenties, there were so many things that I wanted to change. I didn't have a healthy relationship with food and if I would have had access to botox when my first wrinkles started appearing I would have gone for it. I grew up in a culture that teaches you that aging is a bad thing, so of course I wasn't happy when I started to see some signs of aging on my face.

Something huge changed for me when I finally started to see myself through God's eyes. I became aware of the fact that God had created me exactly like this on purpose. There's not one other person on the whole planet who looks exactly like me or has exactly the same personality as me. I'm completely unique and I'm God's masterpiece. I'm God's most highly priced possession and when I became aware of this I started viewing myself very differently. I became grateful for my unique beauty and personality and I became content with how God made me.

The change didn't happen overnight but the more I got to know God the more it started to change the way I viewed myself. God created me for a specific purpose and as I became aware of this I was determined not to waste another year of my life on criticizing my own looks or personality. I decided to embrace who God made me to be and appreciate everything he has blessed me with; my unique beauty and my unique personality.