Reasons to be Lovely, Happy and Healthy.

Well, hi there!

Ok, so what's this blog all about?

I'm a 20 year-old journalism student and I'm in a rut. I have learned a lot in the past couple of years about health, happiness, and loveliness (both on the inside and superficially.) Seriously, for a 20 year old, I'm kind of impressed about how much I know...ha! Talk about a Ron Burgundy-ism...

But you know, as much as I know and preach about it, I have a little tiny problem....it's called lack of self-discipline.

This blog is for me just as much as it is for you. It is here that I will record my personal journey into health, happiness and loveliness. Don't get me wrong, I'm a pretty happy person, a relatively healthy person, and I'm (finally) more secure about my physical appearance. But this journey is going deeper. I genuinely believe in everything I'm about to write about.

Our bodies are gifts. And they are gorgeous. It is capable of incredible feats of flexibility, strength, fluidity and mobility. Seriously, just look at yourself - not your face though. Look at your arms, your knees, your wrists, your shoulders, your belly button, your hips, your toes, your ankles. You're gorgeous. Your body was built for function, for movement, for life.

And as obvious as this may sound, I feel like it needs to be said.

Our bodies are living things. Treat it like it's alive. Run it, jump it, dance it, stomp it, scream it, pamper it, love it, take it on top of a mountain, let it breathe the air, let it grow, and feed it well.

So, there's your reason to be healthy. A bit out of order, but there you go.

Lovely.

What does it mean to be lovely? How many women do you know that you could truly call 'lovely'?

I don't care what you say, women and men are different. There are some things that men are better at than women, and vice versa. I honestly think feminism played a huge part in the death of chivalry. It frustrates me how so many women blindly accept the popular colloquialism that: 'anything men can do, we can do too.' Don't get me wrong, I'm as independent and strong-willed as the next woman, and I'm certainly not putting down our sex; if anything, I am passionately trying to preserve its dignity. I am a woman. I've got breasts, hips, thighs and soft skin. And there's something marvelous about that, isn't there?

Here's what I'm getting at: all women are lovely. I just wish we all believed it.

I have spent way too much time criticizing my body, my hair, my teeth and my freckles and not nearly enough time truly embracing the marvel that I really am.

"Vanity, thy name is woman" someone once wrote. But you know, vanity isn't always a bad thing. What's wrong with admiring your own beauty? In this humble blogger's opinion, it seems to me most women aren't vain enough. We're much quicker to moan, mourn and criticize our appearance than we are to praise it.

Loveliness, I think, comes from a place of security. I have just recently really become secure about myself - and I've found that I am no longer concerned with how I look from every different angle - rather, I have found myself engaging my focus towards other people's needs.

Being lovely means being loving. 

And when you're healthy and lovely, it follows that you'll truly be happy.

That's my theory anyway. We'll see if it works.


Until tomorrow!