Keeping myself clean and bright [91, 92, 93]

 In this world of "image is everything" and superficial judgements, I've found a way to be beautiful both inside and out. It starts with my attitude. I live with social anxiety disorder and a greater tendency to slip into negative thoughts than positive ones. It's taken me years to admit it and even longer to find the right language, because I don't "suffer from" social anxiety disorder. Not in my mind at least. It's just as much a part of me as my German heritage. It makes me who I am, especially because it's not "cure-able." Anxiety is a natural human emotion, it's part of everyday life, so I can't "cure" my anxiety, I can "treat" it or "manage" it. 
I like to think that I live with it and I live because of it and I live despite of it. 
There's this wonderful quote: 

"Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world" - George Bernard Shaw

The first step I took to keep myself "clean and bright" was actually way at the beginning of this project. I chopped off my hair and got new glasses. Sometimes you need to be a little bit superficial to feel more confident. The second step has been a work in progress for years and it's to have a positive outlook. To me, positive outlook= happiness, and did you know that happier people tend to attract other people and make them happy too? Well, at least that's what Gretchen Rubin and all of the research studies she read for her book The Happiness Project say. I try to see the silver lining in every situation, the glass is always half full, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, I could go on and on with the cliché sayings. I do all of the normal "healthy" things: I eat right, I exercise, but I also try to spin everything in a positive light. I accept that there's times when I need my anti-people time. When I just need to close my door and watch a movie all by myself. No matter how anti-social it may seem, it's my recharge time. Think of it as a hybrid car. Getting gas is the social part of refueling. I'm just as human as everyone else, I need social interaction to be happy too, but there's also the electric side. Hybrids get plugged into the outlets at home to recharge, and that's what I need too. Sheesh, I'm just full of the cheesy examples today... 
Of course I'm not perfect. There's always going to be people that just bring out the worst in me and situations that I can't enjoy (public speaking anyone?). And, I can't necessarily give you my secret to keeping a positive outlook, in part it's just a conscious decision. But I can tell you from experience that if you find your own way to a positive outlook, the world will look a lot shinier, because you're so nicely "clean and bright".

Ok, ok, enough with the cliché cheesiness, it's driving me a little crazy. Back to this whole: we live in such a superficial world thing. Think about it, what better way to keep yourself clean and bright than with make-up? Really, I'm not that superficial, but I do like supporting good causes and I just happen to know of this one company, Radiant Cosmetics, that uses the sale of cosmetics to raise awareness about human trafficking. It partners financially with organizations trying to end human trafficking and also pushes people to get involved in their own communities. The logic is that $170 billion is generated by the cosmetics industry every year which is dominated by women while 80% of the 2 million people who are victims of trafficking each year are also women. If I tried to define this company in one sentence I'd just take their own description: "We believe that through ordinary purchases we can make a difference in this world." The longer I spend on the site, the better it gets. A minimum of 20% is donated from each purchase to efforts to end human trafficking. There's a bunch of information about groups like Free the Captives for people interested in helping anti-trafficking organizations directly. And my absolute favorite part: [Q] "Do you test your products on animals?" [A] "We love animals too much to do that. No animals were harmed or tested on in the making of our products." I'm sold!

Speaking of not harming animals during the production of cosmetics, check out the Leaping Bunny website. Basically it's all you ever needed to know about animal testing within the cosmetics world and how to stop it. There's a pledge, which of course I've signed, to "take the leap" to cruelty-free products. Before you even take the pledge you've got access to all sorts of information, including news stories about the cruelty-free realm and a list of cruelty-free companies. Once you take the pledge you get access to the store. It's all about anti-cruelty so it may not be super interesting to the average Joe out there, but for those of us who love bumper stickers and mugs and all sorts of other random things like that, the store is a treasure trove of goodness. After all, why should animals have to suffer so that we can look all pretty and perfect? How can you fight human trafficking with one product but be okay with the suffering of millions of animals with the purchase of another?

As a compassionate consumer, I pledge to only purchase cosmetic, personal care 

and/or household products from companies that do not test finished products, ingredients, 

or formulations on animals. I am taking the leap to cruelty-free products.