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Last Friday, I had the opportunity to attend an insightful talk organized as part of the M1 fringe event – ‘ Walking in Beauty’, which boast of some pretty amazing ladies – bearing their soul and sharing their story.

Far from the external layers and elements of beauty, the story transcend the audiences into topics of growth, acceptance, loss, unconditional love and above all, humanity and strength. All components of beauty in its rawest form, if you ask me.

“Women and Beauty. What is a woman’s relationship with beauty? Join our storytellers as they reveal their insights into what “Walking in Beauty” means to them. Listen to their stories of personal identities shattered, journeys disrupted, and lives altered. Is being beautiful a help or hindrance? Does being funny make you beautiful? How do you know if you are beautiful?

Curated and directed by Petrina Kow, an evening of stories will be presented by Anita Kapoor, Arianna Pozzuoli, Deborah Emmanuel, Frances Lee, Oniatta Effendi and Dr Uma Rajan; six diverse, extraordinary women who are the embodiment of strength, courage, love”

(Excerpt is courtesy of Sistic)

I’m sure many of us – (because I definitely did) – in the audience found certain similarities, that ‘ah ha’ moment or the comfort in knowing we’re not that weird after all, from the personal stories being shared.

That to me, is another form of beauty, of drawing strengths from others and knowing – whatever we’re going through in life is part of life, and one day when you look back – you’ll either tilt your head back in a loud laughter or give yourself a little pat for being you.

What did I learn from these lovely ladies:

Arianna Pozzuli – to never be ashame or fearful of expressing you, in whichever form possible. In her case, her love for speaking to magazines – which eventually became her biggest creative outlet. Her infectious laughter was such a charmer.

Anita Kapoor – it’s fine if you take years to tone down any disdain voices from your growing up years, as long as you give yourself the space to grow and accept. To know that when actions and intent comes from unconditional love – coming into full circle won’t be too far away. Her soulful, profound aura was captivating.

Oniatta Effendi –  shared the trials and tribulations of walking out of her marriage with two young children, the local Malay media having a field day with her divorce and subsequently, second marriage – and knowing that keeping her children safe and family intact, is what keeps her going.  I can’t resonate with her motherhood stories, as I am not a mother. But I can surely resonate with the fear of walking away from a relationship, the fear of being alone, the fear of uncertainties at time and the fear of not being able to protect your loved ones. Her stage presence was larger than her petite stature and boy, was she hilarious.

Deborah Emmanuel – shared with the audience her earthy, soulful voice and her acceptance of her physical features. We can all resonate with certain bodily aspects that we either love or loathe, and as time goes by, one shall realize self- acceptance is very attractive :).  I vow to stop slamming my child-bearing hips when I can’t fit nicely into a pair of jeans.

Frances Lee – the most adorable – and slightly neurotic persona on that stage. She shared her 40 kg weight loss and the fear of gaining all that weight back. Now don’t we all, at some point have that obsession with our weight? The superficial psychological make-up of the younger me incline towards the belief – slim equals to beauty; and if I wasn’t slim enough, I’ll fail to be attractive in anyone’s eyes. I won’t say all this negative notion is all loss on me – and I still have my days of insecurity but have accepted that the numbers on the weighing scale or my attractiveness is no one’s F-in business 🙂

Dr. Uma – a well-respected and accomplished doctor and dancer; she shared the road of widow-hood at the age of 37 and raising two small kids on her own. The stigma of being a widow in the traditional element of her culture, despite her achievements. Above all, she shared the beauty of unconditional love and being grateful. Dr. Uma’s story triggered a little soreness in my heart – as I had to dealt with cultural issues in my own relationship and the struggle of being filial and trying to bulldoze traditions that’s been in place for hundreds of years.  Her words reminded me once again …the unconditional love behind and beyond the pain and loss.

To being a woman – strong and beautiful with all your battle scars and beyond. You are beautiful and never let anyone tell you otherwise.