Once a 25-year-old American, Lizzie Velasquez, received a link to the video with the title “The Most Unattractive Woman”. She happened to be the main heroine of the video. An 8-second video with her has collected 4 million views and thousands of nasty comments.
Lizzie has a rare disease: her body does not digest fat. Her height is 152 cm, and the weight is just 25 kg. She is blind in one eye and has to eat every 15 minutes not to die. Doctors do not know how to help her, so the girl can only follow a special regime every day and consume 5000 calories to maintain her fragile body. Despite all of this, she felt ugly and miserable for the first time in her life after watching the video with her participation on YouTube.
People’s reaction to her appearance hurt the girl greatly: “How can one bear this?”, “Die, Lizzie,” “How does she live with such a mug?” But it is not one of Velasquez’ rules to give up. She has turned her drawback into a weapon, using her unexpected fame to tell the world about herself and her values and help those who are faced with insults and humiliation just as her.
She delivered a speech before a huge audience at the TED conference and explained what had helped her to survive after a brutal offense.
The recording of this performance was posted on YouTube and attracted nearly 6 million views.
We believe that Lizzie has the right to give advice and would like to present 6 rules of Velasquez’ life. The whole world now knows her as the most unattractive woman, but definitely a self-confident one.
1. Learn to accept the bad things that have happened to you
Do not try to understand what you are to be blamed for, do not justify yourself. Horrible things can happen to very good people too. “Shit happens,” Lizzie says. Yes, what has happened to you is cruel, painful and unfair, but nothing can be done! Just accept it and stop blaming yourself. Only then your life will begin to change.
2. Your value does not change depending on what people say about you
Lizzie received thousands of comments about her monstrous appearance. She cried for a long time and felt awful. But then she realized that all the people who had written nasty things about her did not know anything about her life: the 8-second video did not even have a sound. They estimated nothing but appearance. None of them knew what kind of a person she was, what she could do and how she felt. Lizzie knows who she is, she knows she is a good person and deserves an appropriate attitude.
3. Reacting to aggression with even more aggression is useless
When you are attacked, you need protection. But do not respond to evil with evil, as you will just increase the negative energy around you. It will not bring you happiness. Your achievements would be the best answer to offenders. Let those who scoffed at you be ashamed when seeing what you have achieved.
4. Make your flaws work for you
“Ugliness” and the disease only make Lizzie stronger and more convincing. They have become her essential feature. People trust her because they think a person with such a face knows what she says.
5. Difficulties and challenges both are necessary conditions for growth
Problems just help us gain the knowledge and experience needed to reach the top. They harden us and make stronger.
6. You choose whether to surrender or be happy
Having faced with your own “demons”, you become immune to criticism. This is a great power: your offenders no longer can “pull you to the bottom”. Instead, they only push you to fight for new victories.
After watching Lizzie’s performance, there will hardly be anyone who will call her ugly. This girl graduated from college, wrote three books and gave many interviews on television. She has a huge number of followers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, who read her pages with interest.
The team of Geniusbeauty.com admire Velasquez. Go on Lizzie, keep fighting!
