Can one Post-It note change the way women view themselves? Caitlin Boyle, a 24 year old blogger from Orlando believes it can. Fed up with women picking themselves apart in front of the mirror one day, Caitlin scribbled a note on a Post-it: “YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!” and slapped it on the mirror of a public bathroom then posted about it on her blog.
A mere two days after her post, she received e-mails from readers around the world who themselves were leaving their own Post-it notes of encouragement in their own towns and cities. Caitlin soon launched OperationBeautiful.com and posted these notes. A movement had begun.
Bringing these empowering messages to the written page, OPERATION BEAUTIFUL: Transforming the Way You See Yourself One Post-it Note at a Time (on sale 8/3; $17.00) showcases the notes women have posted around the world and the stories behind them. With interviews, interesting research findings, and tips for improving one’s outlook on life, each Post-it tells a different story from different perspectives. Whatever the story, the message remains the same—every woman is beautiful just the way they are!
This girls’ club of “pay-it-forward” was such a simple concept, but a seriously needed one in a society that still equates beauty to Barbie doll images.
With messages such as:
- “You are beautiful, inside and out!”
- “Take a diet from negative thoughts. Fill yourself with positive ones”
- “You can overcome anything because you are strong and beautiful.”
- “Don’t be a copy of everyone else—be an ORIGINAL of yourself!”
- “Love yourself. You deserve it!”
It reminds us all we have the power to define our own beauty.
OPERATION BEAUTIFUL is a marvelous testament to the power of beauty, encouragement and self-love, reminding all women that loving oneself fully is the only way to truly be successful in life.
Editor-In-Chief, Stephanie Penn-Danforth -- Daily Venus Diva.
OMG!! When I was reading this, it gave me the tingles! I remember last year in the bathrooms of the dorms there were signs like this and in the stalls as well as graffiti chalk on the floors going into the building, and I was just thinking, how nice of other women to want every woman to think of themselves beautiful, now I know where it really came from!
Interesting advice, though i am not totally sure i agree.