A body built from hard work is beautiful, a body built to impress is not.

While the interpretation of what one finds beautiful is most definitely subjective, the definition of the word is not. Contrary to what popular culture says, words actually have meanings. They aren’t malleable like some piece of putty that we get to shape into something that fits our needs. Words have origins and we don’t get to just change them because we feel like it.

Beauty stems from the Old French word beautu, based on Latin bellus “beautiful, fine.” The term beaut means a particularly fine example of something. Something that is pleasing to the senses or the mind. I like this. See, when we know the true meaning of words, we can actually form more educated opinions and discussions around them. Beauty by definition is not limited to something that is only appealing to our sense of sight. It goes beyond that; it is something that appeals to the senses as a whole.

Beauty is subjective, as we all have individual senses to which something can appeal or not. But, while physical beauty may speak to our sense of sight, it may not settle into us because it may lack the connection to our other senses. You know what I mean; we’ve all experienced being around someone who emanates beauty from within. Sure, they may be physically very attractive, but it goes deeper than that. They radiate a beauty that stems from deep within them. You not only enjoy looking at them, but you want to be in their presence. They appeal to all of your senses. I refer to this as someone who is radiant. Their beauty is hard earned and you can feel it.

We also experience the opposite end of the spectrum. Whether just on TV or in person, we’ve all come across those people who are an absolute pleasure to the eye but leave us feeling a bit unimpressed or downright disgusted inside. I can think of quite a few celebrity men and women who fit this description very well but I’ll withhold names for now.

Considering the quest for beauty has created an industry with a value of upwards of $532 billion, and most people spend a good portion of their time and energy on it, the topic is worth discussing. Are we focusing our attention on the right things? Are we really seeking true beauty or are we merely seeking physical appearance in an attempt to impress others or avoid the work true beauty involves?

I won’t claim to know the answer but I can share some opinions based upon personal experience, observation and working with others in the health and fitness industry for well over a decade.

One thing I can say with 100% certainty is that a singular focus on physical beauty will always lead to discontent. I have proven this to myself a hundred times over and I have seen it in nearly every person I have coached (both male and female by the way). When I was a competitive athlete at 140 lbs. with 8% body fat, I would point out the little flap of skin that protruded over my booty shorts for god sake! No, I don’t suffer from some sort of body dysmorphia, I’m just honest and most people aren’t. My satisfaction has always come from the work I was doing in the gym to perform at an elite level. My physical appearance was merely a result of the work, not the focus of the work.

How many times have you told yourself that if you just could lose those extra pounds you would be happy? If you looked better in your swimming suit by the time you take that trip to Hawaii, you would have the best vacation of your life! When you were in your teens, you thought you were less than perfect, same as when you were in your 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. Now you look back on your younger self and only wish you looked that way again. So much skinnier and little to no wrinkles whatsoever.

This is all to be expected, considering as humans we are the only species to be completely uncomfortable in our environment. Dogs don’t go around wishing they were puppies anymore than elder monkeys wish they were juveniles again. Yet, we spend countless time and money trying to revert back to a previous version of ourselves. Hard to believe we are the most highly intelligent species huh?

When we define beauty as something that appeals to all of the senses, it becomes clear that a singular focus doesn’t cut it. This would explain why all of the dieting, injections, surgeries or Instagram filters fail the test. It also explains why embracing the idea that obesity is beautiful is utter nonsense as well. None of these appeal to all of the senses. We can look at someone who is heading in the direction of becoming plastic, and we don’t feel their beauty inside us. We can see someone claiming to love their body, even though they can’t fit into an airline seat and call bullshit because their body is proof they don’t do the work.
A body built from hard work is beautiful, a body built to impress is not.

So we can crash diet, inject ourselves to fill up the sagging skin, get our breasts implanted with toxins, or even try to pretend that eating whatever we want makes us happy and healthy at any size but we won’t find satisfaction there.

Beauty comes from work, just like everything else in life that has meaning. Work to make a strong capable body, not one that simply impresses you or others. That work not only changes your physical appearance, but it changes who you are. A body that shows the work you do will lead to a mind that is capable of just about anything.

Physical beauty is undeniably appealing to our sense of sight, but beauty that radiates a room isn’t quite so easy to come by. It requires work done from the inside.

Trying to shift how the world defines beauty is a lost cause because as I explained, it is subjective. What you can do however, is work to create beauty within you that appeals to all of your senses.