my love letter to ladies with large noses

photo of Angelica Huston in all of her prettiness :)

Dear Ladies with large noses,

I feel your pain.  Remember that time  your nose wasn't so big?  You look back at pictures from elementary school and just sigh.  It used to be so cute and small.  It used to be something you didn't really think about and now it is literally coming between you and your reflection.  I spent a good portion of my younger years (meaning high school which was, like, so long ago) feeling extremely self conscious about my appearance in the face area…primarily nozular.

I had, and still have, friends that tell me they love my nose.  That it is still cute.  But for a long time all that I saw was something bumpy that sticks out in front of me.  I srsly mourned the loss of my former tiny nose glory.  Why??  Why couldn't I see what others saw?  Why is it that, even today, when my husband tells me that my nose is what makes me a "uniquely beautiful woman", I just roll my eyes.  "SRSLY, David?" is all I think.  The truth is I have come a long way since those uncomfortable high school days.  I even have days where, dare I say it, I like my nose.  But those are probably days where I've eaten a box of brownies and I'd be ok with just about anything….I love brownies!  I feel things changed for me the year I decided to get my septum pierced.  Septum piercings have really become pretty popular these days, but back then it wasn't as normal to see a girl walking around with a ring hanging from the tip of her nose.  Or maybe I just live in Madison now and you can find facial piercings just about anywhere on just about anyone. Anyway,  I really enjoyed my septum piercing and what it represented.  I guess for me it was kinda like purposely  bringing attention to something I was uncomfortable with.  Taking something that I didn't like, and combining it with something I did in order to change the way I looked at myself.  Or maybe it was a distraction.  Maybe I was using the jewelry to altar what I felt people were focusing on when looking at my face.  Who knows…but the point is, it helped me.

I'm not telling you gals to go out and pierce your face, that's a personal choice that should only be left up to you.  But what I am saying is that you shouldn't let the weight of your nose keep you down!  There is beauty in standing out.  There is beauty in being unique.  We live in a world where we are trained to believe that the girls on the magazine covers are the ideal image of beauty, but guess what? They don't even look like that IRL!  Photoshop does the most damage, not by altering the bumps and curves we have, but by how it fills our heads with artificial beauty standards.  I think it's safe to say that for every insecurity we have as individuals, someone out there thinks that exact "flaw" is one of our greatest attributes.  I'd like to believe that for every envious thought I've had over someones ability to look a certain way, maybe they were thinking the same about me.  And why not?  I say that every time you catch yourself saying or thinking something negative about yourself, stop, and instead point out something you really like about yourself!  Take some selfies. Hashtag them #beautiful.  Enjoy who you are and the body you were given because you'll be stuck in it for awhile.

So here's a thought.  Let's stop saying that we fall into the category of "girls with large noses or big boobs / small butts / large feet / whatevs'" and instead hold our heads up high and agree that we fall into the category of "girls with unique features".  Okay? Ok!  And before I end this letter of love, I just wanna say that I think all girls are beautiful and unique.  But it's not up to me to decide how attractive you feel you are.  That's up to you!  What makes you feel beautiful? What do you like about yourself? What makes you stand out?  That is what matters, ladies.  You will always matter.