This may not come as a shock to people who know me, but for those who don’t, the saying “he calls me beautiful like it’s my name” does not apply to me. I know a few people will get into their feelings about this post but this is my blog and my thoughts. I’m not writing this for them. I’m not writing this to throw shade, hints or for someone to stop doing what they would normally do. I just merely want to express my thoughts on telling me I’m beautiful versus calling me beautiful in place of my name.
I am a different breed. Common or trendy things don’t impress me. Simplicity and uniqueness does. I went to my text messages and I searched the word “beautiful”. It was found over 600 times. My name was found 300 and 75% of those were confirmation messages about appointments from automated systems.
What’s my point? To me, the word beautiful is overused and has lost a lot of its meaning. I am guilty of using it while talking to other women in hopes of complimenting them or trying to change the narrative of women not giving other women credit where it’s due. Ex. “Happy birthday Beautiful” or “thanks Beautiful.” Then I realized how redundant and meaningless it became, so I started to be more specific, “Your hair looks beautiful” or “that dress looks great on you” or “you look so beautiful today.” How can I expect people to change if I don’t apply the same requirements to myself?
When I was younger, the girls were impressed when a guy called them beautiful. This was usually in a club setting or wherever there was a large crowd. It didn’t impress me then because hearing a guy call the girl he just tried to talk to before me beautiful, then when she either gave in or rejected him, myself or the next girl was greeted with beautiful also.
Granted we are all beautiful. We love to be called beautiful in those times when we may not feel the prettiest. Most of us already know that we are beautiful and not only physically/externally but internally. Calling me by my name is a rarity. There are a million + people who get called beautiful daily. How many people are called Angela or Lovely or Exquisite or Radiant? Beautiful has become so basic it’s almost an insult to me that more effort wasn’t put into finding a different word to describe me.
I’m not ungrateful that someone thinks that I am beautiful. I appreciate the compliment and I appreciate them recognizing the beauty that I possess. I also appreciate someone thinking enough of me to not call me what they have called others or what they may currently call others. Most people will say that this was way too deep and/or that I am picky. Don’t get it twisted, I love the word beautiful and I don’t mind being told that I look beautiful at times but I don’t need to hear it every day nor do I need it to be my new name. I love my name Angela more because it’s mine and because everyone is beautiful but not everyone is Angela.
Originally written August 9, 2018
Sincerely Angie 