Growing up surrounded by all kinds of beauty standards, it’s only natural to wonder: what is real beauty, anyway? I wonder if beauty ends at physical appearance. Is it just the features we see on the outside or is there so much more to it?

Over the years, I’ve come to think it definitely can’t be, not entirely. I mean, can a single photo really capture the beauty of a person or even something as simple as a sunset? There’s something about the way a person moves - their face lighting up when they’re doing something they love, the funny expressions they make or breaking into laughter. In those unscripted moments filled with their little quirks, you start to see a beauty that goes beyond merely looks.

But maybe beauty goes even deeper than that. When you look back and think of the times when someone helped you when you least expected it, at an inconvenient time, without second thoughts. It’s perhaps in those moments that you realise that it doesn’t even cross your mind to notice their physical features carefully; you’re solely taken by their kindness. So, I wonder, could it be that empathy, the ability to care for others - is the truest measure of beauty?

But, what about the times when you fall in love with someone’s thoughts, their mind, the way they articulate their thoughts and the way they let you see the world in new ways - isn’t that the kind of beauty that you carry with you forever? A couple of years ago, I’d asked one of my closest friends what she thought the purpose of life was, and she simply said, “It’s to find your tribe - the people who will be there through everything - and to just live through life with them.” I remember being moved although I see purpose differently. There was something so beautiful about how she put it and the way she sees life.

And then there’s comfort - it’s what makes you feel at ease in someone’s presence, where you feel safe to be completely yourself. Maybe the most beautiful people are the ones who make us feel that way. Could it be that comfort, that feeling of belonging, is an essential part of what makes someone beautiful?

Maybe true beauty isn’t any of these things; maybe it’s a mix of all of them put together. And if that’s the case, who are we to judge what makes someone beautiful? Can true beauty ever be really judged, or does it always lie in the eye of the beholder? But maybe beauty transcends even that, maybe someone who’s genuinely kind and considerate is just naturally beautiful.

In the end, maybe beauty is just as simple as being human - flaws, quirks, kindness and all that. And maybe that’s all it takes to be truly, undeniably beautiful.

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