The Beauty of Confidence

I have recently been following the jou
ey of one Katie Piper and for anyone reading this article that hasn’t heard of her you must visit her site Katie Piper Foundation.

Firstly, the words I wish to use to describe Katie are: phenomenal, strong, beautiful, confident, courageous, role model… and they’re just my initial experience of this mighty young woman.

So what is it that she has done? Katie was the victim of an acid attack, one that changed her face and her life forever. A horrible crime that tears at your heart; it was unprovoked, it was devastating.

But here we are a few years on and Katie has received amazing surgery that has helped her regain her confidence as well as the ability to live fully. Not only that, she has started a foundation to help people who live with disfigurement every day. Award winning, national heroine – not bad for a woman who thought her life might be over.

So what is the lesson here? What can we all take away from this level of making something great out of something so tragic?

Appreciate every day of your life

Live in the now; today might be the last now as you know it

Instead of getting consumed with hate and revenge look for the positive solutions in dilemmas. We all have moments when we feel retribution is the right way – let the universe deal with that

Love you as you are with all your faults, strengths and quirky habits!

Spare a heartfelt thought for people who want to just live and love life, who are different on the outside but who love just the same withi

Teach your children to show respect to everyone, accepting differences and showing human kindness

Remember that on your darkest day someone somewhere is probably experiencing something similar. Are you going to wait for them to rise up and share their story or will you be the brave one? Every story helps someone, somewhere…
I have many role models in my life; my parents, my siblings, Ali Brown, Oprah, Martin Luther King, Dawn Gibbons, Richard Branson to name but a few! And Katie Piper now stands firmly among them. Her exte
al beauty may have changed but to me she is as beautiful in this moment.

There is a beauty in confidence that far exceeds the physical and it is that beauty we should all strive to experience...