The Need to Escape Anonymity

“If you can learn to use your mind as well as your powder puff, you will become more truly beautiful.” Sophia Loren

My mom mentioned Sophia the other day...well, she couldn't remember her name - all she said was, remember that beautiful brunette actress....and I knew exactly who she was talking about.

Courage.  Glamour.  Determination.  Illumination.

What a bombshell beauty - timeless and classic...isn't that what we all strive for? She has the kind of beauty that only comes from a roaring confidence and courage deep within...that kind of fire inside cannot be contained but radiates outward and extends from your very core.  To exude confidence and sex appeal because you are okay with who you are and what you stand for is bold, and expressive, and at times frightening, frightening to feel.  Sometimes the thought of actually feeling, let alone expressing that feeling just hurts too bad, and you want to remain comatose and numb.

Sophia was told over and over that she was not a classical beauty: with her nose too long, her mouth too large, her chin and her hips too broad. But what others could not see at first, was that the total of all her face parts, her body language and her inner beauty made her stunning.
 “I was suffused with the feeling that that’s what I was put on earth to do, to act, to express myself, to let out whatever feelings I had inside; and perhaps a need to escape anonymity.” (Sophia. Living and Loving. Her Own Story)

Pre-photoshop times, Gorgeous!

I love the end of the above quote, how bold and unique - it contains depth that surpasses outer physique and looks.  The need to escape anonymity...most people prefer to remain anonymous, in a sense.  Society is so obsessed with media and pop culture, but when we go to the movies, and read magazines, aren't we really analyzing these people with a microscope as if we know them personally, to make ourselves feel a little bit better about our own anonymity? the desire deep within to be something great, extraordinary, lies within us all in one sense or another, just waiting to come out and be expressed...but most just choose to fly beneath the radar, not ruffle any feathers, due to fear, lack of esteem, lack of knowledge, or lack of TRUST. 

I think when we believe in what is greater than who we are, we are transcended in the process and become greater beings than we perceive of ourselves.   And finally, as Sophia states so concisely: “Success, I would find out, is interior. It has to do with self-fulfillment and the joy of living.”
That is what I have come to realize and am working on living out daily.  It's easier said than done.