Day #9 - Viva La Difference!

Viva la difference!

When I was thinking about what to say about this topic; about how we should celebrate our differences and what makes us unique - the first thing that came to mind was my experiences while modeling.

When I modeled, I was not very unique.  Sure, maybe I had olive skin a little, well, olive-ier than the next girl, or maybe my eyes were farther apart, but really, we were all the same.  We were all 5'11" skeletons.  We all had high cheekbones, and graceful necks, and long legs.  And most of us were emaciated.

It was as if we had all come out of a factory, ready-made, looking the same.  We looked like tall, pre-pubescent boys, WITH BOOBS.

Being different wasn't really wanted, or celebrated.
And I lived with that for a long time.
Sadly, I accepted this.  For a long time.

But now that I've quit modeling and really embraced recovery, I really and truly have been able to get a better perspective on what makes us different and really and truly beautiful.  It isn't if you've graced the pages of a magazine, or can fit into a size 0.  Walking the runways in L.A. doesn't make you beautiful, at least not in my opinion.  Not anymore.

I think what makes me beautiful is the scars on my stomach, that tell the story of my hell but also my recovery, and the stretch marks there, that say, Hey Mila, hey Cade, guess what, I made you! 

I think that our differences is what makes us beautiful.  When I think about my closest friends, the people I love most, and the people I trust most, I haven't "picked" them to be my friends because they are models, or because they are what the world would deem as beautiful, and they aren't stick-thin.  They are my friends because they are funny, or witty as hell, or because - and maybe most importantly - they would never betray a confidence, or stray in the loyalty we have with each other.

I couldn't care less what you weigh, or what you look like.  I want to be around someone because they are kind, and thoughtful, and maybe a little wacky, and goofy, and different.

If we were all cookie cutter shapes cut out of the same mold, wouldn't that get so boring, so old?

I don't want that.

I want to be me.  And I'm not perfect, and in a lot of ways I'm "different," and in a lot of ways that is still scary to me.  I have my flaws, I have my imperfections - we ALL do - but let us take today, to be happy about those differences.  To celebrate the unique flaws.  To be okay with being different.  VIVA baby, viva!  :)