100 Day CreativeChallenge: Day 41 Beautiful People

Sometimes when we read Facebook, Instagram, Twitter posts and see the happy faces of people traveling, spending time with friends and family, eating at amazing cafes, looking like supermodels and creating the story of a beautiful life, it’s easy to feel less than.

You see, we don’t get the backstory. We only get the highlight reel. Earlier this year I gave a TEDx talk and one line from it keeps coming back to me:

If life were only the highlight reel we proudly show on Facebook, without all the sacrifice, discomfort or failures, it would be so much easier.

But, as we all know our lives are not just highlight reels. No one’s is. Even when we try and be ‘real’ on social media and share some of the backstory, it can be misunderstood or people trot out the clichéd responses—we all do it.

‘I’ll pray for you.’

‘I’m thinking of you.’

‘Things will get better.’

‘Hang in there.’

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

That’s why I quote Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in the front my novels. I want to write books that don’t wrap life up in neat little answers with a pretty bow. I want to show that the story is in the struggle. We all suffer. We all experience loss and grief. The challenge is to use that struggle to show compassion,gentleness and concern for others through whatever it is we do.

Perhaps your creativity means creating a posy of flowers for a friend, writing a card with comforting words, telling a funny story to make people smile—whatever it is, use your pain to create beauty. The most beautiful people are not the supermodels or pinup boys, they are the ones whose soul is kind. The ones who have overcome and found their way out with grace.

In everything I write I hope that the beauty of the human soul is evident. That’s why my company is called Beautiful Books. My non-fiction books are sub-titled beauty tips for the soul. Why my novels are part of the Beautiful Lives Series.

Sometimes people are beautiful.
Not in looks.
Not in what they say.
Just in what they are.

Markus Zusak