Laugh Lines

---by Iris Hanlin

I was watching random video clips on YouTube during my off time the other afternoon, I stumbled across a Nat Geo documentary about the (often ludicrous) lengths some people are taking in order to preserve their youthfulness, to find their own “Fountain of Youth.”

I was shocked and saddened by the whole thing…

One man has devoted his life to practicing yoga and urine therapy in the mountains and another has undergone over forty plastic surgery procedures.  They’ve spent their life trying to obliterate any signs of it on their bodies.

I love my laugh lines and my crow’s feet and my scars...

The way I see it is: why would I ever want to get rid of them?

They tell me who I am.  They share part of my story.  Some of my memories.

That I care.  And maybe even what it is I care about.

Call me too heavy.  Call me too old.  Call me too skinny and young and naive.  But I'm not afraid of telling the world that I think I'm beautiful.

I'm not a narcissist.

I am just a girl.  I'm just a girl who is sick and tired of commercials and corporations and people telling me that I'm not sufficient and how I need to fix myself.

I like who I am, and I'm okay with the way I look.

Sure, I'm not perfect, but I am me.  And I am working on my flaws.

So what if I have a bit of a belly or the beginnings of crows feet around my eyes - I am comfortable with that.

I just want people to know that it is okay to feel beautiful, and that self-love is not weird (to an extent).  It's okay to feel comfortable in your own skin, even if it's not perfect, or up to the world's "standards," if you can even call them that.

I'm fit, I'm healthy.

I'm just right.

You are too.

Iris Hanlin is a 19-year-old second-year formerly-homeschooled journalism student in small town Michigan. She lives a somewhat nomadic life as a professional petsitter, director of public relations for her local pro-life group, photographer, and blogger.  She operates under the tagline "just a simple country girl with a passion for life and everything that comes with it," and the motto "ad maiorem dei gloriam."  She blogs at Country Girl's Daybook.