Welcome to Utah

So there I was. . . doing my hair. Again. My mornings have been the same ever since I was old enough to turn on a curling iron. I shower, blow dry my hair. . . straighten it, curl it, fluff it. . hairspray it. . straighten the ones that got lost along the way. It's been a never ending cycle of primping. And this morning, I dared ask the question of "Why in the hell am I doing this again?"

Well, as soon as the question was asked, I immediately answered it with images of what I look like when I refuse to do this process. . . fluff that hasn't been in style since the 80's comes to mind. . . and no one really wants to have an afro anymore. So why do I care so much about how straight my hair is? The answer. . I live in Utah.

You see, Utah has been blessed with a curse of way too many pretty girls. Yep. I said it. . they're everywhere. Absolutely beautiful girls, girls that you see on movies. . they're beautiful. I used to rationalize, and be like. . well they may be beautiful. . but I have character and a brain. Then I realized that. . .well, so do they. Utah is jam packed with intelligent, beautiful, sweet, driven women. Everywhere you look, there they are. Sounds great right? Wrong.

We live in a society where young girls are bombarded with pictures of 90lb women. . . the perfect dream? And we've felt the pressure since we could play with barbies to also be perfect. So what happens when you're pressured this way? You start to compare yourself to the other girls who are trying to be perfect . . . the plot begins to thicken. I've had numerous roommates from out of state, that tell me one thing they first notice when they arrive in Utah. They notice that girls are checking them out, not in a sexual way. . but in a comparison way. The second you walk into a room, you get scoped out by every girl in that room - their eyes scale you up and down to see if you're going to be competition. I remember when I first heard them telling me about this happening. . and when I realized I did/do it. I panicked. . . but I realized that it was something that had been engrained in me since I was little.

Ever since we could understand. . . we knew that our dreams were achievable. Right? Cinderella always gets the prince. . . you just have to be the prettiest gal at the ball and your prince charming will come get you, sweep you off your feet, etc. Well, what happens when you're not the prettiest gal at the ball? Panic.

I've seen numerous friends of mine make themselves sick, trying to achieve the perfect standard of beauty. We go to extreme lengths to be beautiful, to try and win the attention of the numberous prince charmings that we're surrounded by. Diets, exercise to the extreme, hours spent primping, trying to just beat out the next girl that walks into the room. I had the opportunity of working with the youth for a few summers, and noticed a disturbing trend. Girls who were defining their very selves by how other people saw them. Their very esteem was defined by what they saw in the mirror. I believe that this issue is the cause of so many problems. . . but what can we do?

I was discussing it with my dad last week, and he gave me the wise words of "Just be who you are. If people can't see that and love you for it, screw em." I immediately cast it off as good advice, but just kinda fluffy. but think of how true it is! If we could all just find confidence in ourselves, no comparisons. . how much better would the world/dating scene/friendships be?! If only we could be proud of who we are, not who we are when compared to the next girl. .. I think we'd see a world of difference. Until then. . I guess we'll be forced to keep straightening our hair. :)