By: Gabriela Yareliz
I heard Theo Von once describe dating in LA, and he said it was brutal. You have some woman your age who is dating some guy fifteen years older than her— Aerosmith, or something. She just came back from a world tour. All I can offer her is a walk, Theo said laughing. How do you compete? He asked.
I think that becomes the question that emerges in all of our heads at some point or another. How do you compete?
Women face this all the time. It’s not that you are intentionally competing with other women or people. I think nowadays it’s more of a question of how do we compete with what is not natural? AI? Plastic surgery and fillers? Altered images that rewire our brains? Masculine culture?
The beauty conversation comes up at least once daily, either on a text thread or social media post. What is true beauty? I would argue true beauty is that which cannot be taken away or aged out. The irony is we all want to look a certain way, but few are as committed to being a true and deep reflection of beauty. The lightheartedness, the good morals and character, a grateful heart, emotional intelligence, honesty, a commitment to growth, consistency— uff. You can’t inject, photoshop or AI any of that.
I laughed with Theo when I heard him saying he can’t compete. But if Theo is as genuine as he presents, the irony is, I think he would win the whole game with his sincerity and his non-world tour walk. That’s why we gravitate toward people like him. Deep inside, we recognize true natural beauty. We would all win the game with that Theo level of honesty. Because beauty is found in the simplicity of integrity and a good laugh.
Maybe someday, we will realize there is no competition with a heart of gold. The whole game is rigged in your favor. I hope we all choose natural beauty— when faced with the choice, may we always choose a walk over a world tour.
GABRIELA YARELIZ 