A Tale of Beauty #EyesLipsFierce

Verene

Growing up, Verene tried not to think of herself often. She attempted to avoid vanity as much as possible. However, this proved difficult when walking through crowds of any number of people. Her thoughts were always interrupted by the sharp voices of others. Verene knew from a young age that she was able to read minds.

Anywhere she went, she heard the thoughts of everyone around her. Walking into a room, she was greeted by others' nonstop judgements. As a teenager struggling to fit in, she quickly became depressed, knowing that no one saw her as beautiful. Everything she did—she was confronted by people thinking she should be skinnier, that she had frizzy hair, and that her acne looked ugly. She very rarely heard a complimentary thought from those around her. No matter who she saw, it was always the same. She changed everything about herself, but nothing changed. She still heard their negativity. Staring in the mirror, night after night, she asked herself why couldn't she be beautiful like her mom or her sister?

She hated how her family praised "this gift." It was no gift at all, hearing how people thought of her. She'd rather not know; she never got that peace.

One day she ran into her grandmother at a coffeeshop, preoccupied with others' thoughts that her jeans were too tight. Her grandmother could immediately see the pain in her face.

"My Vera, what's wrong?" She asked. Verene was conflicted if she should tell her grandmother what's been going on. Her power had been a secret to everyone, besides her immediate family. Out of desperation, she explained her situation, hoping for comfort.

In true grandmother fashion, she wrapped Verene in a big hug, and said, "Vera, you do not have the power to read minds. You have the power to plant thoughts in people's minds. All along these thoughts that you've been hearing have been nothing but your own."

The shock took days to wear off. Verene excitedly ran home and along the way placed thoughts of her beauty in others' minds. She was having a wonderful day, as people stopped to give her double takes.

A lot changed in Verene's life: she changed her wardrobe to things she truly liked and stopped wearing pesky false eyelashes all the time. Now, she liked her own style, and made everyone around her like it too. She had never felt so good.

Still riding this high, Verene stopped to tell her grandmother thank you. It was then, her life would change forever.

Her grandmother with a slight smile on her face, held Verene's hand and said, "Vera, you never had any powers. You have always been beautiful. When you see it, everyone around you sees it too." The only magic in Vera's life was the way she saw herself and it influenced her life every single day. Luckily, she learned how beautiful life is when you love yourself and continued this way for the rest of hers.