Octoberfest Day 31: "Operation Beautiful"

I am anticipating you all asking me what my favorite activity of the month was so I thought I would beat you to the punch. The activity for Day 31 was my favorite, hands down. Now I know what you're thinking, "how could you choose just one activity to call your favorite?" It's simple. What I did for the very last day of the month truly represented what this was all about. I set out to try something new each day of the month. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone. I wanted to get out of the ruts of doing the same things day in and day out. I wanted to get my head out of my apps and experience life from a different viewpoint. I wanted to share my journey with all of you in the hopes that it would inspire each one of you to live each day to the fullest. And if one thing I did helped make the world a better place, then I would consider the month to be a success. The idea behind Octoberfest was about celebrating my birthday. The end result became much bigger than that. When you do something selfless for others, the act of pure kindness becomes bigger than you and can have far reaching results that you aren't expecting. That's what I experienced on  Day 31 and I will never forget it. I had an idea of another random act of kindness and my friend Hannah told me about a movement that was taking the idea one step further. It's called Operation Beautiful and it's about spreading positive messages to girls, various ages, all over the world with sticky notes. Right now, we live in a society that is very critical of phsycial beauty. Bullying is very prevalent in schools. And even when girls pass their teen years and become adults, we still struggle with body image and accepting ourselves just the way we are. In a way, the pressure becomes even worse the older we get. When I was in high school, I wrote an original oratory on body image and how little girls are subjected to it even under the age of 5. Disney princesses are always physically beautiful, very small in stature and most times projecting unrealistic ideals. My speech ended up being the 5th best in the state. The message behind the oratory was simple: every girl is beautiful no matter her size, shape, color, etc. Real beauty goes beyond skin and what's on the outside. So I took 7 different sticky notes and I wrote various messages on each of them varying from "Hello Gorgeous, have a wonderful day!" to "You are perfect just the way you are." Then I went to my grocery store, the mall and Drake campus and I put the sticky notes in random areas where girls would see them: bathroom stalls, dressing rooms, on women-specific grocery items, etc. Most of the time, I hid the sticky note so it wouldn't be super obvious and would truly be an element of surprise once a girl/woman discovered it. It's my hope that the woman who has been on the receiving end of the note, stopped her day and truly felt good about herself in that given moment. If she was having a bad day, I hope it cheered her up. If she's been thinking critically about herself lately, then I hope she realized that her beauty is perfect just as it is. If she's been depressed because she doesn't feel she can contribute anything worthwhile to this world, then I hope she thought twice and discovered that we are ALL capable of becoming something. Every woman is unique and different and has a perspective that no other woman shares. That's what makes our world beautiful. Girls should be reminded of this constantly, especially in the teenager years when they're more susceptible to temptations and peer pressure. And as women get into their 20s and are trying to figure out their place in the world, it's even more important for them to realize that they are still beautiful no matter what. And as women age and experience more life, that perspective is mature and beautiful.

I felt so overjoyed spreading the uplifting messages. The only thing more exciting would have been seeing a woman come across the notes. But the way I'm imagining their faces is probably pretty accurate. Again, I couldn't have been more proud of myself in that moment. Being selfless and giving and thoughtful is a truly wonderful feeling. Operation Octoberfest: Day 31. Beautiful indeed.