I do not think about being beautiful. What I devote most of my time to is being healthy. — Audrey Hepburn

I do not think about being beautiful. What I devote most of my time to is being healthy.

Author: Audrey Hepburn

Insight: There's a quiet rebellion in this distinction. We're so used to conflating the two—assuming that health and beauty are basically the same project with different names—that it takes someone saying it out loud to notice they're not. When you chase beauty directly, you're often chasing trends, other people's eyes, comparison. When you chase health, you're chasing something that actually makes you feel better in your own body, that gives you energy and clarity and resilience. The tricky part is that health often produces beauty as a side effect anyway. The glow that comes from good sleep, from moving regularly, from eating foods that fuel you—that's real. It's just the result of not obsessing over the outcome. It's the difference between working toward something because it serves you and working toward something because you think it should serve you in someone else's eyes. This matters now more than ever, when we're constantly sold the idea that our bodies are projects to be optimized for display. What if instead your body was a project to be optimized for living? For doing things that matter to you, for feeling strong and capable, for actually enjoying the experience of being alive in it.

Source: An Elegant Spirit, p. 102, 1992

/Quotes

Health First, Beauty Follows

I do not think about being beautiful. What I devote most of my time to is being healthy.

Audrey HepburnAn Elegant Spirit, p. 102, 1992

There's a quiet rebellion in this distinction. We're so used to conflating the two—assuming that health and beauty are basically the same project with different names—that it takes someone saying it out loud to notice they're not. When you chase beauty directly, you're often chasing trends, other people's eyes, comparison. When you chase health, you're chasing something that actually makes you feel better in your own body, that gives you energy and clarity and resilience.

The tricky part is that health often produces beauty as a side effect anyway. The glow that comes from good sleep, from moving regularly, from eating foods that fuel you—that's real. It's just the result of not obsessing over the outcome. It's the difference between working toward something because it serves you and working toward something because you think it should serve you in someone else's eyes.

This matters now more than ever, when we're constantly sold the idea that our bodies are projects to be optimized for display. What if instead your body was a project to be optimized for living? For doing things that matter to you, for feeling strong and capable, for actually enjoying the experience of being alive in it.

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Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian, known for her iconic roles in films such as "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "Roman Holiday," for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress. She was celebrated for her elegance, talent, and work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, dedicating her later years to humanitarian efforts around the world.

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