7 Reasons Not to Wish You Were Beautiful ...

One of the reasons not to wish you were beautiful is that beauty doesn't last. If your sense of self-worth is based around your looks, then how are you going to cope when you get older? You can still look good when you're older, but you won't have that glow of youth. So don't waste time wishing that you are as stunning as someone whose looks you admire. Be yourself.

Everyone has a different idea of what beauty is. So you may think you are not beautiful, yet someone else may think you are gorgeous and wish they had your looks! Conversely, someone you admire may not think much of their own looks. So it's pretty pointless wishing you were beautiful when nobody can even agree what beauty is.

Having a good brain is far more important and valuable than looks. Intelligence and character are far more durable. Do you really want to be judged by your external appearance? It's a pretty shallow set of values. So rate your mind and personality more highly than your looks. Sure, some people do go far based simply on their looks, but for most of us brains are far more useful.

Being beautiful is all very well, but there is a pressure to maintain it. Just look at the number of people who are going for cosmetic surgery, and how actresses are criticised for looking different from how they looked twenty years ago. Even those who avoid surgery are afraid of getting old. We're all going to get old, but if we aren't jaw-droppingly beautiful, then we won't fret so much about aging.

Beautiful women are the target of a lot of assumptions. People think that they must be lacking in intelligence and obsessed with their appearance. They can also be subjected to jealousy and hostility. Would you want to be treated as though you were stupid, simply because you had a pretty face?

Rather than wishing you were different, be happy with what you've got. You're not inadequate just because you're not beautiful enough to stop traffic. Would suddenly becoming gorgeous (or what you think is gorgeous) really make you happy? The chances are it wouldn't. Beautiful people have problems too …

Finally, remember that many of the images of beauty that we see are manipulated and altered. The models, celebrities and actresses whose images we see look very different without makeup. In fact, they look just like us! We could all look amazing if we had top makeup artists and Photoshop experts at our disposal …

So, if you've ever criticised your looks and wished that you were better-looking, stop doing that to yourself. Learn to make the most of what you've got, both inside and out. There is so much more to a person than their outward appearance. What do you think makes a person beautiful?