Coffee Date: On Beauty

I am participating in the Under Armour What’s Beautiful Campaign as a FitFluential Ambassador. 

I legally have to disclose that, but in all honesty I would participate in this campaign/challenge even if I didn’t receive awesome UA Swag. This may seem cliche, but really participating in this program has really made me think about beauty… how I see it and how I am teaching my daughter to see it. So pull up a comfy chair and grab a cup of coffee (or tea… or water!) and let’s have a chat. I have a feeling this may be long… so get comfortable!

If we were having coffee today I would ask you what you thought beauty really was. I would listen intently and probably search for some hidden or underlying explanation for your thoughts. You can thank my psychology classes for that. I would tell you that I still struggle with the stereotypical idea of what’s beautiful… I know it’s not a number on a scale… but to be honest I still find myself chasing it. I know it isn’t the number on the barbell either, but I chase that too. I find myself struggling to find just the right words to define and explain beauty, especially when trying to explain it to my 3 year old. Words are important to me. They are weighty and carrying a lot of meaning. So, I did some research…

Beauty, as defined by dictionary.com is the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind.

I had to sit and ponder this for a minute. To wrap my head around the idea.

If we were having coffee I would tell you that I think there is a huge part of beauty that seems mysterious to me. Because when something is beautiful sometimes we just can’t explain why. Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense. You just look at something and you see that intense pleasure or deep satisfaction and sometimes all you can muster is a whisper of “that’s beautiful” 

beauty is not perfection. and seeing life through precious little eyes reminds me of that all too often. a simple attempt at braided pig tails may frustrate me because they just don’t look right. But she sees the beauty in it. something so simple brings her great pleasure.

and that is beautiful.

maybe it is doing something you never thought you could do. that happened for me this week. when I first started CrossFit I wanted to do one of the benchmark “girl” workouts as prescribed… which at the time was SUPER heavy for me. I mean 95# from the ground to overhead 30 times is no joke. But I kept dreaming about it, and working for it. and this week I did it. and in that sweaty moment when the 30th Clean & Jerk locked out over my head I felt a moment of intense pleasure and deep satisfaction that I can’t explain.

It was beautiful.

So, I guess what I’m saying is I can’t really explain beauty to you in a way that would do it justice. But I can tell you when you see something beautiful… deep in your soul you will know what beauty really is.  You’ll feel it.

If we were having coffee… What would you tell me?

linking up with alissa.