365 Days (Part 2) | ✓

318. Health & Beauty

318. Health & Beauty: Take some time to peruse your medicine cabinet or the health and beauty aisles at a local store. Write a poem, short story, or journal entry inspired by a product label.

At the risk of writing something titled "The Blushed Nudes" or "Tampax," I'll be taking this story in a different direction. 😂

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Once upon a time --

I know what you're thinking: What a cliché way to start a story. Hush about that. The Hunger Games started with Katniss waking up, so don't speak of clichés to me.

Ahem, as I was saying --

Once upon a time there was a little girl.

Okay, well maybe she wasn't super little. Let's peg her at fourteen. Actually, no, make that fifteen. Fifteen is a solid age.

So this fifteen year old girl did all the usual fifteen year old girl stuff. She went to school, had friends, posted selfies on Instagram, etc. I honestly don't know. I was studying Shakespeare when I was fifteen, but this girl didn't do that. She did normal stuff, okay?

And like all normal teenage girls, she didn't like the way she looked. She actually despised the way she looked. The years went on and she hated herself more and more. Girls do that. We tend to be disgusted at our appearance. It’s kind of a learned trait.

In desperation, she started to wear makeup. Her parents told her she didn't need to. Of course, most teenagers tend to disregard their parents. But she felt prettier in makeup -- and sometimes, looking at her on fleek eyebrows -- she felt beautiful.

Other people started to treat her differently too. She even got more attention from boys. Her selfies got more likes. She became more popular.

All of this because of makeup, she marveled, one part scoffing at the shallowness of humanity and the other part rejoicing that she was the recipient of its favor.

However, as she grew older, she grew wiser. Her heart was cultivated, and she realized something.

People didn't like her more because of the makeup. She wasn't prettier because of the makeup either. She felt prettier because of it, and so was happier and more confident. She smiled more. She stopped being so self-conscious of what people thought of her and started to pay more attention to the people around her.

Makeup didn't make her pretty. Makeup made her confident, and that's where her true beauty stemmed from.