Manic Monday Motivation: Recognize the “It” in You
Words: Kat Noel • Jun 4th, 2008 • Category: RANDOMNESS.Just the other day, I quickly ran out the house to run a few errands downtown. In a rush, I threw on the first thing my hands came in contact with and barely gave much attention to what my hair looked like; the only thing on my mind was getting out of the house,fast, so I could capitalize on the day before the sun was gone.
Once I left my neighborhood and got closer to the hustle and bustle of the city, I became more aware of what I looked like. With every woman I passed wearing a sleek, coordinated outfit, my uncombed hair seemed to grow larger and my simple jeans and t-shirt looked more like raggedy hand-me-downs. I tried my best not to make any eye contact, praying that I could make it home before anyone recognized me and all my hot mess glory.
Just as I thought I was doing a pretty good job going unnoticed, I spotted an impeccably dressed elder coming my way. Though, I considered picking up my pace and acting as if I didn’t see her, I decided to stop and take the “Back in my day, ladies didn’t leave their homes without giving their dresses a good press with extra starch, combing their hair and slipping on pair of pantyhose” speech I was sure she was going to give me. The closer she got, I realized that it wasn’t a look of disappointment on her face but instead, a warm smile.
“You’re beautiful,” she said.
“I’m sorry, excuse me?” I said bending down closer to her mouth, sure that I had misheard her.
She gave me another once-over, taking all of me in and said, “You got it.”
Satisfied with her declaration, she walked away, leaving me standing in the middle of the city’s sidewalk speechless.
At that moment, I remembered an interview with Phylicia Rashad on Oprah.com, where she admitted to not feeling beautiful until much later in her life. Ms. Rashad shared that she would tell all young girls who are feeling insecure about their looks to ‘Stop! Who you are is not the way you look—who you are is who you are on the inside. There’s not a mirror in the world that can show you that. It is beautiful; it is amazing; it is awesome.”
I realized that due to her experience and wisdom, the older woman was able to see pass what I had going on, on the outside and recognize the beauty of the inner me, the true me. There will definitely be days that my insecurities will get out of control and threaten to distort what’s real, but I’ll try my best to remember that what’s on the outside will one day fade, while what’s within me will last forever.
Kat Noel is a true rolling stone, who believes everyone has a story to tell and never leaves home without paper and pen. She’s hoping that Square Rootz is her meal ticket out of the country.
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its taken me a long time to appreciate who i am, and not be concerned about my shortcomings. For instance at 19 i nearly had a panic attack when i first noticed the loss of a couple of strands of my wavy hair. Now i sport my receeding hairline with pride, brush my shoulder off and keep it movin. Cuz i know there’s more to me than that, im bout more than my hairline, more than my height or lackthere of, more than my shy at first personality…etc. People can’t put you down unless you allow them to, haters luv to point out your flaws, it makes them feel better bout themselves.
I can totally relate because I go outside looking like a hot mess every other day. In fact, I just came back from the corner store to purchase some cocoa butter and conditioner and I look downright scary. To make matters worse, I shonuff bumped into my hangout-on-the-corner-all-day-every-day-and-night friends. I digress. Great post Kat. We all need to remember that it’s what’s inside that counts and stop tripping on the outer appearance.