Operation Beautiful

Thanks to one of my terrifically resourceful clients, I’ve become a fan of Caitlin Boyle, the brainchild behind www.operationbeautiful.com, and I am grateful for her presence in the world.

To help her overcome her eating disorder and poor sense of self, in a flash of inspiration, Caitlin scribbled “you are beautiful just as you are” on a post-it note and placed it on a public bathroom mirror. When she thought about how someone would happen upon it and read it, she felt good. Better than good. Empowered.  What a lovely thing to come across during a mundane day, or when someone is having a bad moment and engaging in oh so toxic, “fat talk.” She made it her mission to write as many of these notes as she could.

The idea caught on. Followers of Caitlin are now spreading positive messages to help celebrate everyone’s unique qualities all over the globe. She’s published a companion book with hundreds of sticky notes that people have posted, photographed, and sent to her website. It’s a great read.

One of my favourites:  “Change the way you see, not the way you look.”

As part of my recovery, I realized that I was a victim, so to speak,  of my culture that taught me through its media that having a thin, boyish body was the only option for social acceptance or personal happiness. I began to feel anger when I saw images in my world that glorified dieting and anorexic thinking. In a bookstore in Ann Arbor, MI, where I was living at the time, I found a roll of stickers – purple with white lettering about an inch and a half square, that said “This insults women.” I kept those stickers in my purse and surreptitiously put them on posters and magazine covers, wherever I saw something that perpetuated distorted thinking and disordered eating. I admit that those small acts of vandalism made me feel empowered too.

I also started writing letters to advertisers and magazine pubishers if I was particularly offended by the images they presented to the public. To be honest, I never received a response from any of them, but it sure felt good to find my voice and allow it to be heard.

Fast forward 25 years: the stickers are long gone, and now that I’m married to a man in the graffiti-removal business, I could no longer deface any surface in good conscience. But post-it notes with positive messages seem more than acceptable. Last week I put one on the scale at the rec centre gym: “You are so much more than a number. Be beautiful. www.operationbeautiful.com.” My heart skipped a beat when I left it there; I hope it’s just the thing someone needs to see when she reads it.

Give it a try – think about making someone else’s day with your words of support, acceptance, and encouragement. You have nothing to lose except maybe a little negative self-talk.

With Love,

Ellen

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