Even Though You’re Struggling, You Can Still Become a Symbol of Hope
When I was in college, I joined a school pageant just to get my crush’s attention. He became my boyfriend.
The next year, he became my ex-boyfriend — so I joined a school pageant again. Pathetic, I know. I was naive!
But I never got his attention back. Instead, I got Facebook likes.
I can’t remember when I’ve started voicing out online, but at some point I knew I had some level of influence. I thought I was able to inspire. (Hopefully!)
I talked a lot about social issues. I was a typical Millennial just trying to “stay woke.” I’ll be honest and say I was also looking forward to the Facebook likes. I should’ve known that was wrong, but I’ll thank my narcissistic self for sharing something important.
A true beauty queen is not just beauty and brains.
I have some reservations about beauty pageants, but I guess experiencing it myself also got me interested. As an art student, I was into fashion photography. And as a member of my school’s theater group, I enjoyed stage performances.
But only when I paid attention to its purpose that I realized the good side of beauty pageants. Apart from beauty and brains, I think a true beauty queen is inspiring.
I was on Facebook watching a video about a Medium writer — when it automatically led me to another: the preliminary interview of the newly-crowned Miss Universe Philippines, Rabiya Mateo.
I would’ve stopped watching since I try my best to be mindful of my social media time, but I continued anyway. I’m not sure why I did, but I guess she’s that charming. Or maybe I wanted to see more of how she speaks.
And then Rabiya got me when she said:
“Even though you’re struggling, you can still become a symbol of hope.”
I swear it felt like she was talking to me! Those were words I needed to hear. Recently I’ve been saying how I sometimes feel pretentious writing about self-awareness and inspiration, when I myself still find it hard to be consistent.
Friendly reminder:
Whether you’re already known or just starting to make positive change — if you aim to inspire, then you’re already inspiring.
Like a lot of us, I had my dark days in college too. After joining pageants, I often received comments and even private messages telling me how inspiring I am. This helped me boost my confidence.
Until a time came when my insecurities led me to fail classes, and I felt I was no longer that inspiring girl people thought. Because how can a girl with failing grades be a role model, right?
But my experience helped me understand how it’s like to cry at night feeling insecure.
Fast forward to this day — I’m writing about self-awareness for better mental health. I believe that it leads to a better life.
Here’s another quotable line from Rabiya’s interview:
“When you practice self-love, you get to know the right weapon in order for you to win life.”
Amazingly, I wrote a similar thought in my first article:
I’m no beauty queen, but at least in my mind, I can be.
Thanks for your time!
My name is Enne, and I do graphic design + photography.
Can I help you with my skills? 😊 See my work here.