Sunday, September 27, 2009

On How to be Lovely

One day while driving in my car and listening to music at volumes that will probably cause substantial hearing loss, this song came on my iPod.

I have listened to this song hundreds of times and have watched the movie, Funny Face, several times as well. While I love the song, it never really made any impression on me like it did that day. I thought, "this song is amazing...there should be a blog about this song." I brushed off the feeling telling myself that I didn't need another blog to worry about.

Later that same day, as I was lurking blogs, I read a post about a little girl who came home to tell her mom that she wanted to die because of how she looked. I admit that I started to cry. The most touching part of the story, though, was how this mom reacted. She didn't just tell her daughter that she was beautiful no matter what (what mother doesn't think that about their daughter), she looked her in the eyes, told her she loved her and would do whatever she could to help her feel better. And again, I felt the need to create a blog to address such issues.

I shared that blog post with a friend of mine and as we talked about confidence and self-esteem and being a girl and feeling awkward, I felt even more impressed to start a blog. So I kind of just slipped the idea into the conversation. I shared the song with her and told her how I felt about it and what I wanted to do and she got really excited. Then I told two more friends about it, hoping that they would feel inspired to help me and, because they are so amazing and awesome, they shared my excitement and we got to work.

The thing is, I don't want this to be like our personal blogs and I don't want it to be small. I want it to be more than just for me and my circle of friends. I want it to be big, because that's what it is, a big idea. I want an actual helpful, uplifting and well-written blog that lots of random people will eventually read. I want guest posts about cheerful and thoughtful things. I want comments that go on for ages...an actual dialog that someone somewhere will benefit from. Maybe I'm asking too much, but I kind of don't care. It just can't be bad to have a place that will remind us to be who we are no matter what and it can't be bad to work on something that makes you focus on positive and uplifting things.

And so here you have it, On How to be Lovely. I'm sure it will be nowhere near perfect or scientific, because we most definitely do not have all the answers, but it will be fun. A place to feel merry and charming and jolly. A place filled with delightful things to make you smile and feel good about yourself. A guide to becoming lovely.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay! I get to be your first cheerful and thoughtful guest post! Keep it up ladies, it is a great idea.
-Melissa

Lis said...

I'm definitely excited to follow this blog! We all need something to make us feel good about ourselves.

Dafni said...

I LOVE this ladies! What girl hasn't gone through something similar to that little girl? I think this is a fabulous idea to help all women of all ages not only feel beautiful but KNOW that we are beautiful and special! Can't wait for more! :)

<3

lizzyval said...

I'm a lurker on the blog you referenced as well; don't respond much, but I love that you took inspiration from how she handled that and are trying to grow it!

I think we could all use some positive reinforcements in our lives. I give my daughter 150%, but tend to give myself a far smaller %. It's hard to find value.

Good for you and good luck!

Julie W said...

Looks like I need to rent Funny Face.

Cara said...

Megan, and everyone else who is in on this--
This is beautiful--what a way to leave your tiny footprint in the world. We so often forget what it is that makes us truly female and feminine and beautiful. (I don't even know what it is) but I think what you are doing here is defining it for all of us.
I am soon to be living in a world that consists of me and two small boys and one big one. Sometimes I feel a little misunderstood and a lot outnumbered. But I am thrilled to be a woman--even if that means I am a super-emotional basketcase once in a while--because it means that I care, or if I care more about what color the house is than how many square feet, because it means that I value beauty.
So thanks for encouraging all of us to find that little something inside of us that makes us truly beautiful (maybe it's just the guts to be yourself and love yourself... inspite of yourself.)
I can't wait to read more!

Michal (Miki) Jo said...

Awesome idea, lets make it juicy!
Makes me miss my bffs in Israel.
Oy.