My Black is Beautiful

"Instilling confidence, inspiring, and knowing your worth it"

I want to dedicate this post to all black women. Black women who don’t feel appreciated, confident, and welcomed. I have always believe and some of you may be able to relate, that we have the world against us. As a black women we are underrepresented in many aspects in society, especially in the beauty industry.

My experience

From experience, it can hard dealing with labels and stereotypes as a black woman. I remember growing up feeling discourage, low self-esteem, and not beautiful. I felt this way growing up because of the lack of representation. I grew up in predominately white neighborhoods in the Chicago land suburbs, so I never had my peers "look" like myself. I was always told, I was a pretty girl growing up from my family but never felt that way from society. Early on, I was able to see the lack of representation in media, magazines, my peers, “pop culture”, and just everywhere. Growing up, it made me believe that I was not good enough or even beautiful because my racial group was not being represented. This why I feel that society is against us and does not advantage us. I basically, taught myself confidence. I think teaching myself confidence has helped empowered myself in life.

Teaching myself confidence was something I needed to do and has changed my perspective and how I view myself. Personally, I believe if you are not confident, you need to gain this through self-praise. Once you are confident and proud of who you are, you become a strong individual (believe me).

Let's Build your Confidence

As black women it’s so important to have a positive outlook of yourself because of the inevitable problems we face in society.

So I am here to say this, if you are experiencing low-esteem as a black women because you are a black women. Let’s stop this today! Start giving yourself self-love. What really helped me when I was struggling to love myself and to love my skin. I read poetry. One of my favorite poets is Dr. Maya Angelou. Dr. Maya Angelou poems' identifies strength, love, and self-validation. I recommend Dr. Maya Angelou’s poem called Phenomenal Woman. I love this poem, I feel proud of who I am and a strong woman. Dr. Maya Angelou poems have an effect on my self-esteem and self-worth because of the women Dr. Maya Angelou embodies.

Remember finding validation within yourself by yourself will instill confidence.

Also, speaking positive about myself and knowing my self-worth is just as important help with my confidence building. Self-worth is defined as “the sense of one’s own value or worth as a person”. Know what your values are and not let anyone undermine this. Just know what you bring to the table because being confident goes beyond beauty and skin. Being confident is what’s on the inside and your mindset, the rest will follow. I believe self-worth is a process in which you have to address and evaluate deeper issues. A lot of times we do not realize we are tearing ourselves down.

For instance, it can be in a conversation and you doubt yourself or lower yourself down to make the next person seem more valuable. When you become aware of how and when you are tearing yourself down, you do the opposite and talk yourself up. In other words, give yourself pep talks (I know this may sound cliché), it helps and reminds yourself you are great.

Another great way to help with confidence is create an achievement list. Create a list of accomplishments you are proud of no matter what it is. Validating within ourselves is a good way to boost your confidence because you are only in competition with yourself. You can reflect on you growth, which makes yourself feel even better about yourself.

One of my favorite confidence building tips is to treat yourself. Pamper yourself by getting a makeup over, a new hairdo, wardrobe, or even your nails done. When we look good, we feel good! Feeling pampered will help you transform you mood! I am a big believer in taking care of your appearance. Personally, I feel my best when I am dressed up and full glam makeup on. I feel as if I can take on the wrong and accomplish my goals.

As an ode to black women, I hope these tips are helpful. These are some of the things, I used when gaining my confidence and being proud to be in my skin. Of course, there are more ways to help build confidence. It’s important to find what works for you and sometimes it may mean seeking counselling or asking for help because you’ve tried everything. That’s okay to seek help because your physical and mental health are important for your success in life.

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