This morning, while browsing the news app on my phone as Miss A slept, I came across an article with Gwyneth Paltrow in the headline that caught my attention.
It caught my attention for a couple of reasons, one being that I’m currently reading Paltrow’s latest biography, ‘Gwyneth: The Biography’ by Amy Odell, and am thoroughly immersed in all things Paltrow, Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck, ‘that’ Oscars speech and Goop at the moment. So, it’s only natural that the algorithm slings another Paltrow-related story my way.
Here’s a quick trip down memory lane. You’re welcome 🙂
Published in Grazia magazine, the article, ‘How an unfiltered photo of Gwyneth Paltrow broke the internet’, by Nikki Peach, essentially explores beauty standards, authentic self, ageing, and the power of making ‘age positive power moves’ – all of this in a culture dominated by fakery, cosmetic procedures and filtered perfection.
This comes following an unfiltered photo posted by Paltrow on her Instagram account on 18 September, captioned, ‘NYFW’ (the photo was the first in a carousel of photos shared on her Insta).
I can’t access the article I read, on my Mac, so here’s a link to a similar – albeit much briefer – story I found online. Click here.
Anyhoo!
All this has me thinking about beauty: what it means to be beautiful, shifting beauty standards, the influence of *cough* influencers and social media, and the values we’re passing on to our daughters.
In a world saturated with fakery, how do we instil REAL beauty values into our girls?
natural beauty and body love
It’s taken me a long time to accept who I am and how I look.
I’ve struggled with dysmorphia, specifically facial dysmorphia, for years (click here for a recap).
It’s been an exhausting struggle that at times has felt crippling, and has kept me from fully living my life!
Getting into triathlon helped! Instead of fixating on how I looked, my energy went into nailing training sessions and chasing race goals. Hours of swimming, riding and running left little room for obsessing over my appearance and my flaws.
And you know what? Looking back on photos from that time, I’ve never looked better. Training made me strong, healthy, and happy, and well, too tired to bitch, gossip, compare and generally worry about what anyone else wore or how thick their hair was!
Since having Miss A, I’ve become far more aware of how I see myself — and how vital acceptance and authenticity are.
The last thing I want is to pass my old hangups on to her.
To me, beauty is about being real – it’s about embracing who you really are and loving it.
It’s about showing up as yourself instead of hiding behind makeup or filters.
Real beauty is about kindness, confidence, curiosity, and a love for life.
It’s about being fun and friendly, accepting, goal-driven, and present.
Because, let’s be honest, someone obsessed only with their looks or their outfit? *snore*.
Real beauty is so much more than just “me, me, me.”
instilling healthy beauty habits
So, how will I nurture a healthy sense of beauty in Miss A?
I’m going to celebrate what’s real, limit the glare of perfection (that’s you, social media!), treat skincare as a positive act of self-care rather than a self-critiquing session, speak with kindness and positivity, and value strength, health and vitality over size.
I realise it won’t always be easy, but I’ll be damned if I don’t give this my all.
I’ll teach her to love and accept herself exactly as she is – to be kind, selfless, and to radiate warmth and acceptance.
And above all, I’m going to live what I preach because if she sees her mumma embracing imperfections, practising self-compassion, and focusing on more than appearance, she’ll grow up knowing what true beauty really means.
x G.
editor, journalist, digital content creator with a background in nutrition & dietetics.
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