Jul 24

Jul 24 What is Beauty?

Everyone who knows me will agree, growing up as a Caribbean girl, you can't leave the house without lipstick.

This prepares my mood for the day and although it is an external accessory, it makes me feel empowered inside.

Being half Puerto Rican, Mami (grandmother and mother alike) always say to dress well and maquíllate (beat your face) even if you are going to the corner-store. They didn’t explain your self expression glows when you present yourself in confidence. It sounds shallow but, if you feel good in what you have on, because you feel good in your own skin, you glow. That can range from sneakers, yoga pants, and a head wrap to professionally styled hair, manicures, and well structured dress/suit.

With everything that has been happening, I want to reflect on what beauty means, in a world where self love is rebellion in itself, especially as women and in my case, an Afrolatinx.

I, like many of us, have been falling into a mourning process for our community, it is hard to find beauty in the darkness of the world, especially in regards to the darkness of my skin.

Spiraling into the constant suffering of a nation that is ugly in and of itself, it is hard to see the power and beauty we have within.

Through loss, we tend to feel we have gone down the wrong road, to finding ourselves again, but it is a re-shifting to going back to the basics and finding our footing, in the right journey.

In the past two years, I have been reshaping, researching, and understanding my view of beauty.

Belleza, beauté, beauty to me, is an acceptance of what makes me feel radiant and happy.
When my soul feels full, be it accepting my extra curves, that I fight with on a daily basis, how my face looks with a fro versus stretched hair, or when wearing make up as an extension and highlight of my favorite features.

With going natural, I have had to unlearn what that meaning of beauty was, an imprinted assumption that my hair isn’t a part of me. Going natural exposed what I never knew I hid, my face behind bone straight hair. I didn’t see my father's smirk, my mother's forehead, and what I like to call my afro-taino nose. I thought "it is just hair," but the opinions, adversity, and solidarity I encountered, taught me otherwise.

Beauty = Self-Empowerment

Even on the darkest days, where I am swallowed by the calamity of the world, I do my best to keep falling in love with myself and recognizing that we are more than a pretty face, but souls that deserve to be happy, even in times of adversity. Making a conscious decision to choose beauty as a gateway to greatness by our own definition.