What could make you feel #MSbeautiful?

#autoimmune, #MS ,#MSbeautiful ,#lisadryer

Things that COULD make one feel #MSbeautiful
learning something new
getting a beauty treatment
spending time with a friend
being told you look pretty
telling someone they look pretty
doing something kind
eating healthy
exercising
spending time with a child
having a pain free second/hour/minute/day/year
being happy
being stress-free
looking at beautiful things
coloring
putting makeup on
making art
gardening

…..what makes you feel beautiful?

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I had never thought about if I needed to be beautiful growing up. Well, actually, that statement is true and not true as everyone thinks about things like, “beauty.” But, beauty wasn’t a factor in my reality, or, at least not in terms of how it applied to me. I thought a lot about the make up of my features and my face and I actually thought about my genetics QUITE ALOT. That you were born with certain family members features, and seemingly that you then analyzed for a large chunk of your life at Thanksgiving with your Mother, your Aunt Carole, your Daddy Neil, your Uncle Bob, your cousins Scott and Jason, and your Grandpa Joe and your Grandma Ruth; that just seemed like something everyone did. NOW, that I don’t argue about where my nose came from every Thanksgiving with my Grandmother over the last slice of pumpkin pie; I just look back on how it looked. I think that had a lot to do with how I was raised. My Grandmother always said that My Mom always said that being pretty was nice, but it wasn’t what made you special. And this is coming from one of the most physically beautiful women I have ever seen. She prized all creativity, talent, smarts….what made you You above the physical. I always connected beauty with joy, happiness, sometimes love. It seems that BEAUTY brings smiles with it. I was a child of the 80’s and thus, loved certain things and connected them with beauty and sexuality: Madonna became an issue for my poor Mom, who, finally took away my “Like A Virgin” concert tape because my dancing was…not suitable for an eight year old, “Who Framed Roger Rabit” (my first movie in the theaters), and the release of “Snow White,” on VHS which changed my life. How can “Snow White” change a girl’s life? Well…I was Snow White. For years I watched that movie EVERY STINKING DAY acting out every scene. I loved it. I loved her. And I wanted to be her in REAL LIFE. And she had a fairy tail ending. How lucky can one girl get? She defeats all the odds and ends up defeating them and cheating death ending up with the love of her life. Lucky. My family went on vacation to a famous hotel in San Diego, The Hotel Coronado. They had filmed an equally famous movie there. It is called, “Some Like It Hot”. This movie is listed as one of the best films of all time on many an top 100 list.” It is really a good movie! I watched it in rapture at the tender age of eight. I sat there and fell in love with Marilyn Monroe. It is most likely because she is a living version of Snow White, mixed with Jessica Rabbit’s sexuality, and she could dance like Madonna. (In my mind Madonna could was the end all be all of dance apparently. Ha! I hadn’t seen Barishnakov yet!) I watched the movie all weekend. It inspired me to start watching all of her movies and learning all about her. I continued to do so over the course of my life. Marilyn had a heartbreaking life, but she had a good head on her shoulders ab0ut who she was and what she wanted. (Do some research: ie; more than watching one movie about her or reading one book. That would be like spending one weekend with me when I am having an exacerbation!) And when you looked at her she radiated such complete joy. THAT is what TRUE BEAUTY IS. TRUE BEAUTY IS JOY AND HAPPINESS. Just looking at Marilyn makes me happy. Looking at happy people makes me happier. It’s a fact. But making people happy is even better. Giving people a little bit of fairy tale in their day. Amazing. As an adult, I loved the theater because it allowed me to do that. Play (like I did when I was a child pretending to be Snow White), and bring people a little happiness boost. It allowed me to feel happy in concerted boosts and be with “my people.” I loved performing on stage as part of the Queen’s Court and even packed up and traveled across country to do so. When I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclorosis it shut my world down. I lost my happy. I lost my people, too. I started bloging because I did not know what else do do. And I had no idea what a Facebook group was, but it meant that I could talk to my friends, so; of course, I was game! That is how MonSter and The Reluctant Syren was born. A note on the name : MonSter is a name we MSers call Multiple Sclerosis. Reluctant Syren has been my pen name since High School. So, quite literally: Multiple Sclerosis and Lisa. (to be continued)…

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