Today I'm Growing
Hey I’m Anna and I’m here to help you grow into the best version of yourself. Physically, mentally and in all areas of life. Growth is powerful because it makes us feel stronger, more confident, healthier, and happier. I want to find out all the tips, tricks, habits, and routines - everything we need to know to GROW. I want to do this together with you in this podcast.
New episodes the first Tuesday of each month.
Today I'm Growing
4 Ways to Make Yourself Feel and Look More Attractive
Today, as I applied my mascara, I wondered if my beauty routine really makes me feel empowered or if I'm just trying to meet society's expectations. In this episode, I talk about beauty standards and how we see ourselves. I'll explore if looking good really means a better life and challenge the unrealistic beauty images often shown in (social) media. I will encourage you to find your own meaning of beauty and celebrate your unique self. I'll share my experiences with things like lip fillers and how beauty views are changing over time. I end with four simple tips to help you feel good about yourself, focusing on health and inner happiness. Join me to learn how to feel confident from the inside out.
Hey, team, welcome back to my podcast Today. I'm growing. I'm so excited to have you here today with another episode. We are talking about beautiful and attractive things. We are talking about how to look and actually what's most important to feel more attractive. What are tips that I can give you? And I have four tips for you today on how to look and feel more beautiful. I'm going to share those at the end of the episode with you and before we actually have to discuss and we have to talk about what does it mean to be attractive, like, who is attractive? Who decides what attractive is, and why do we want to feel and look attractive? What is it? Why is that our goal? Let's start this podcast episode. I'm really, really excited. I hope you are excited too. Let's get straight into it.
Speaker 1:Let's go the other day, team, I was standing in my bathroom and I was just checking. On the right side, I have all my makeup products and it got a lot in the last couple of weeks, months, in the last year, I would say. There are so many new things that I bought. I bought so many new mascaras and foundation and eyeshadow, and then next to it, there are all these new hair products. I bought so many things for my hair, for my body self-tanner, body cream, new hairstyling tools to make beautiful curls, to make beautiful hairstyles and I wonder, all these new things that I have, do they actually make me look more beautiful? I don't know. It's something I want to discuss with you. Because we buy all these things and we buy all these products because we all have the same goal we want to look a certain way. We want to look better, because I think looking better comes with a few kind of cool things. If we think we look better, we also feel better, and I think that's what we all aim for. We all want to feel amazing. We all want to leave the house, the apartment, we want to leave the door, walk on the street and we just want to slay. We want to look our most confident, our hottest. We want to walk on the street and there are these hot girl walks. I'm kind of loving when I say it, but yeah, we want to do our hot girl walks and we want to feel hot. Every one of us, no matter how old we are, no matter if you're a man listening right now, a woman, whatever, it doesn't matter. We all want to feel a certain way. We want to feel better and we think if we look better, we also feel better.
Speaker 1:Looking a certain way, next to feeling better, it also comes with other advantages, at least that's what we think. We think that more attractive people, or more beautiful people, they have it way easier in life. We think that they get the better jobs and they make more money and they have more friends. An attractive person finds another attractive person and they have then this An attractive person finds another attractive person and they have then this attractive relationship because they're both attractive and they have this amazing beautiful life. That's how we think. We think attractive people have it easier in life and I don't know if that's true. You can send me a DM on Instagram let me know what you think. But we think that attractive people have it easier in life, and I'm sure there are so many things we have to discuss, because what is actually an attractive person and who decides what an attractive person is and why do we think they get the better jobs and they make more money? There is so much to discuss and talking about this, like what is actually an attractive person, what is it and who decides it.
Speaker 1:I'm just thinking right now when I think of who is beautiful, who is attractive, and I think of all these women, I think of the Kardashians, I think of Hailey Bieber, I think of a lot of stars and celebrities, and I think I think they are attractive, because that's what society tells us. They just keep sharing these beautiful women and they market all those kind of things in a way of, okay, just buy this lip gloss from Hayley Bieber, then you look like her because she is the one she is so beautiful. Then you have all these other yeah, you have the Kardashians, you have so many actresses, so many singers, taylor Swift they all look amazing. They're all attractive. It's funny, though, because they are also all very, very different. So that already shows me we can't define attractiveness by a certain hair color or a certain face, because there are so many different options and also in different kind of cultures and in different kind of countries. For example, what's beautiful here in Europe might be not beautiful in Asia, or might not be beautiful in the US or in Africa. So everywhere around the world, it's really really different, and also there are so many different kinds of being attractive, being beautiful.
Speaker 1:I think there are a few things that just society tells us that this is beautiful. When it comes to bodies, for example, when it comes to skin, I think society tells us, for example, that a perfect skin is beautiful, which also comes with a lot of pressure for all of us, right? Because not every single one has perfect skin, like hardly anyone. Hardly anyone has the perfect skin that we see on media, on social media or in the magazines. That's just so unrealistic. No one has that, because it's also photoshopped, it's in perfect light. So it's really, really hard to compare ourselves to those kind of beauty standards and to those kind of images or videos. So, by actually saying that, here's your reminder to just please, please, please, don't compare yourself to what society or media tells us what's beautiful, because most of what we see, especially online, is just not realistic, it's just not real. So please do me a favor Don't compare yourself to influencers, don't compare yourself to models or actresses. It's just not real, it's fake. But media and society, they just keep telling us that this is what we should strive for, that this is how we should look like, and they just make this promise of if we look like them, then we will also feel like them, and they always seem like they feel amazing. They feel so confident, they feel so good. So we also want to feel that way. We also want to feel like that.
Speaker 1:And one point here why does media tell us all these things? Why do they show us all the perfect skin and all the perfect bodies and the perfect hair? Because they want to make money. That's how it is. They want to make money with all their products. And I'm the best example. I just buy so many things. I buy the lip gloss from Hailey Bieber because I think it makes my lips look better. I buy things for my body. I buy the self-tanner. I buy I don't know things for my hair and, oh my God, skincare I buy. So buy things for my body. I buy the self-tanner, I buy I don't know things for my hair and, oh my God, skincare. I buy so many things for my skin because I think then my skin looks better, it looks more glowing, yeah, so I'm the best example.
Speaker 1:Media gets me. This whole industry gets me. I'm a girl, I'm a woman. I still haven't figured out everything, so I'm still buying. I'm still buying the things, but I'm aware of it and I'm also aware of right now, and it took me a long way to get there. I'm aware of that. What they show me is not the reality and that my skin doesn't have to be perfect and that I don't have to be perfect. And I keep saying this here in this podcast. Life is just not perfect. We are not perfect and that's what makes everything perfect. We don't have to be perfect and that's perfect the way it is. So the fashion industry, the beauty industry, also wellness and fitness industry they want to sell us something, they want to sell us a certain look. They want to, especially in the fitness and wellness industry I think that's what I can speak most about, because that's where I'm in, that's where I work at they want to sell us a certain body type. We think, if we that's the craziest to me and I can give you a few examples Like I had my transformation story, like the first, first, first one, when I was younger, when I was around 14, 15, 16, I had this crazy transformation from a normal beautiful girl into a skinny, underweight girl.
Speaker 1:I was losing so much weight because I thought, like when I'm skinny, when I lose a lot of weight, then I feel better. That's what I thought. But the crazy thing to me is that I lost a lot of weight. I've reached my goal, but I did not feel more attractive, I did not feel more beautiful. And after this transition, or this transformation into a really skinny body, I had another crazy shift into a really muscular body, because I started doing CrossFit. I went from one extreme into another extreme. From one day to another I was like I don't feel beautiful the way I am. I'm so skinny right now, but I still don't feel worthy, I still don't feel good enough.
Speaker 1:So I had this crazy transformation into a more muscly body or a more muscular body, that's the right word. So I gained a lot of muscle. I was eating so much, I was training so hard and my new beauty standard was this really, really strong body. So I did everything and I reached my goal, but I still didn't feel more attractive. I still was really insecure, I still was really unconfident, until now I don't know how many years later over 10 years, I would say over 10 years of fighting against my body, of going through so many different phases I realized that being attractive and feeling attractive it has nothing to do with, for example, losing weight or gaining weight, or having more muscle or having a little bit less muscle, it has nothing to do with it, because if it doesn't make you feel better and really hear like really from the inside out, if it doesn't make you feel more confident and more beautiful, then it also doesn't make you look more beautiful and more attractive because you just don't feel it.
Speaker 1:You have to start from the inside out and it really is a feeling from the inside out. The way you walk, the way you talk, the way you act, that's what makes a person in my eyes really attractive. So it's not about losing weight, it's not about gaining weight, it's not really about your body. But when I share the tips later with you, then you will see that there are a few things that are true about what the wellness and fitness industry is telling us about working out, eating healthy, taking care of yourself. It comes with some sort of attractiveness and beauty, but in a different way.
Speaker 1:What I want to say with all those kind of things is that you can buy all your makeup, you can buy all the products for your hair and for your body and you can work out every single day. But if you are truly unhappy from the inside out and you really look in the mirror, no matter how beautiful you already are, because you are and I want to mention that again you are beautiful the way you are. But you have to feel it and you have to not accept it, but you just have to stand up for it and be like yes, I am beautiful, you have to believe it, you yourself have to believe it. Then the rest of the world will also believe it and will also see it. It and then the rest of the world will also believe it and will also see it.
Speaker 1:So do all these things work? Makeup, hair products, beauty products, everything what we see on media and social media do all these things work? I would say no, but at the same time, I would say yes, because let's quickly talk about makeup. Why do I think it doesn't work? Why do I think it does work? So I know that no matter how much makeup I buy like I can put so much makeup on my face there will be days when I just don't feel beautiful. Or there will be times when I just don't feel beautiful, no matter how perfect my makeup is on my face, because it doesn't come from the inside out, it doesn't come from within. I don't believe that I'm beautiful. So I also don't think that I'm beautiful. I hope you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:But at the same time, I have days when I wake up in the morning and I want to film a video, for example, and I really don't feel like showing myself. I really don't feel like I'm going to turn the camera on now. For example, this morning, I wouldn't sit here now in pajamas. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't care, especially when I vlog on YouTube. But for this video now, I wanted to present myself in a different kind of way. So I put makeup on and it immediately made me feel better about myself. It made me feel like I took care of myself, I'm confident now, I'm ready now. It gave me this little glow up. So I think it's a mix of yes and no.
Speaker 1:Like all these beauty products, yes, they work, at least for me. Sometimes they make me feel better. And same with fashion. You dress in a certain way and you feel amazing and you dress in a certain way and you leave the house in this outfit where you feel your absolute best, your most confident, your strongest and your most beautiful. It's a really, really good feeling. And there are outfits where you just don't feel comfortable at all. And it's not your fault to not feel good in this outfit. It's the outfit's fault because it's not the perfect outfit for your body. But if you don't feel good in an outfit, then it does something with you. It makes you feel just not good about yourself. So all these things fashion, beauty, wellness, fitness yes, to a certain degree they can make us feel better. That should not be an advertisement now to buy all, all kind of different things. You don't need many things. You just need a few things that make you feel better about yourself. But they can work. Yes, they can work, but at the same time it's not a promise like they can't promise that if you put on this lipstick that you immediately feel better. That's not how it works. So it's a mix of yes to all these products, but no, you also have to really feel from the inside out and you have to look into the mirror and you have to tell yourself hell yeah, I am beautiful, hell yeah, I'm attractive. And then it all works. Then it all comes together.
Speaker 1:I have this little book for you where I always make little notes about the topic I want to talk about, about thoughts in the morning, for example, when I do my morning walk, then I have some thoughts in my head and I want to just write them down so I don't forget to talk about it. And I wrote down that I want to talk about Botox filler or fillers and just plastic surgery in general, because I never really talked about this topic. I want to share for all of you who are new here, for all of you who don't know much about me, that I grew up in Austria. I grew up in a little village where I don't know anyone having Botox, fillers, having done, done anything. It's not common there. Honestly, like, if you don't have Instagram, if you are not in the beauty Instagram bubble, you have no idea what's going on in some parts of the world. And now I moved to Berlin like I'm in a big city right now.
Speaker 1:I also traveled a lot this year and last year and I have seen so many crazy different things. Also Seoul, south Korea, to me had been really interesting, for example, getting your nose done or getting fillers. It's something so common and something so normal which really, really shocked me. So, coming from this little village, I was like like wow, I have no idea what's, what's going on here. And also my parents, like my mom is, I would say, really against it. She would be really mad at me if I would tell her hey, mom, I got some fillers, I got some Botox. She would be like Anna, what the why did you do that? And she would be really mad at me. I think my dad as well, because it's something so crazy for them. Maybe it's also just their generation. It wasn't as accessible. Right now it's actually. You can get it for a price that normal people also can afford. Back then, just celebrities, just stars, could afford doing something on their faces, getting their nose done, getting their something else on their bodies done. But yeah, these days it's something really common and it's something really popular, which, on one side, I think is kind of sad.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I don't know what to think about and I'm also not. First of all, I'm not against it, I'm not against Botox, I'm not against fillers, I'm not against plastic surgery because it can make feel a lot of people way better about themselves, and I'm all the way for it. Everyone should do what they want. I don't want to say I've never done something and this is something I've never, never, never, never, ever shared before.
Speaker 1:I've done lip fillers twice. It's I don't know how long ago it is, it's two years ago, one and a half years ago. I've done it twice. I don't even know why I did it. When I think about it right now, I think it's. Yeah, it was coming from Austria.
Speaker 1:This all was so new to me, and then also working in the influencer industry, in the creator industry, it was so normal. Honestly, I went to some events and I felt like I'm the only one not having lip fillers. And now I'm thinking of it and I'm looking outside on it and I'm like, okay, wow, like this is really crazy. This is really really crazy. What's going on? Like why is it so common? Why is it so normal? And I've never, I've never had a problem with my lips, like never, never, ever. But at one point I also wanted to have them bigger suddenly, never ever. But at one point I also wanted to have them bigger suddenly. And now it shocks me, but I want to be open and honest about it with you.
Speaker 1:I've done it twice, but really really little, just a tiny little bit. I think I got two DMs overall in the last years, two messages on Instagram. Nobody else even noticed. My parents didn't notice, some of my friends didn't even notice. But yeah, I did it.
Speaker 1:And just because all the others did it and when I talk about this right now, there is another hot topic I'm at this age where a lot of my friends get Botox, where a lot of people around me get Botox, and yeah, that also that's the exact same that happened to me when I did my lips. Like there is so much influence around me and they all be like, oh, I'm doing Botox, it's something. Yeah, it's easy, it's done in a few minutes, it's easy, it's not as expensive, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I feel a little bit of pressure to also get it done, to also then feel more beautiful. But that's the question. Like I feel good right now, why should I do it?
Speaker 1:And then I spot things in my face, just because they keep saying and keep talking about Botox, that I didn't see before. So, for example, the wrinkles on my forehead when I look up or when I just do these facial expressions. But it's so normal and it's actually so beautiful because it's my emotions. Sometimes, when I'm like not smiling, but I'm like something happened, when I'm super excited, then I have these little wrinkles on my forehead and it's actually beautiful. And also let's quickly talk about aging, because aging is not attractive in today's society. Like everyone is afraid of aging, and I was too, until I realized that it's so normal and that it's so beautiful and that it's part of life. No matter how much Botox you pump into your face, like, at one point you will age, and that's okay, that's part of life and we all can be beautiful, no matter how old we are. So we really shouldn't be afraid of getting older and seeing changes.
Speaker 1:I've gone through these changes and these crazy panic attacks just because I turned from a kid into a teenager, into a young adult, and I couldn't deal with those changes. But this time I want to be okay with it. I have learned enough and I have learned that you can't fight against these kinds of things, that you can't fight against life and against getting older and aging. So I don't want to fight right now. I just want to enjoy it. I just want to wake up every single day and be happy with who I am. But oh my God, like this topic is getting crazy. But anyways, I feel pressure to also put Botox into my face, but I'm not gonna do it because I just realized, like I don't have to. I'm happy with who I am and I'm happy the way I look right now. It might change in two years, three years, I don't know. So I don't want to say I might never do it. I don't know. I don't know how I feel in three years. But I want to say one more time that I'm not against all these things.
Speaker 1:What I'm against is that if you do it because everyone else is doing it, so don't do that. Just because everyone else around you has lip fillers doesn't mean you need them. If you love your lips the way they are like, why do you change them? It doesn't make any sense. So learn from my mistakes, be a little bit more clever than I am and just do it for yourself. Do things because you really struggle with something. If you really struggle with your nose and you want to get your nose done, then I'm here to support you to get it changed. But just doing something because everyone else has done it is BS. Okay, team, we made it to the last part of this podcast episode.
Speaker 1:I want to share my four tips with you. The four tips on how to look and feel more attractive, I promise, without Botox, without fillers, without plastic surgery. You don't need it. But my four tips, let's start with the first one. The first one has something to do with what the wellness and fitness industry is selling us. It's exercising, it's eat healthy, it's get your beauty, sleep and hydrate and all these things, I have to say. I put it into the category take care of yourself. I really believe that if you take care of yourself, it makes you look more attractive and it makes you feel more attractive, like you can really tell if a person drinks a lot of alcohol, if a person smokes a lot. You can really tell in their faces, you can see it when you look at the hair at their bodies, that they are not really healthy, and I think a healthy body, a healthy person, is, in general, more attractive. Or at least I look at the person and I think, okay, this person looks more attractive to me.
Speaker 1:When I talk about self-care, I talk about exercising, I talk about moving your body, and I think one thing that comes with moving your body as well is, for example, when you go for a run and you come back from your run. I'm 100% sure you can relate, but you come back and you're like damn, I'm feeling amazing, I'm feeling so good. And it gives you this post-workout glow, not just from running. Also after every single workout that you do, also after strength training. I want to mention that because, especially as a woman lifting heavy weights or lifting weights, it does something with you. It makes you feel stronger, it makes you feel more confident, and also after every single workout in general, also Pilates, for example, after a Pilates class I just feel like a Pilates princess. I hate to say that because it's a trend on TikTok currently, but I feel like a Pilates princess. I feel like I have my life together, I feel like just good, I feel lengthened and toned and beautiful. So working out definitely does something with our brains and I think it's because of the post-workout endorphins.
Speaker 1:We talked about it before. Taking care of yourself, it's like skincare to me. It's fashion. We talked about it before that you don't need all the products that you see on social media, what they want to sell us. You don't need all of them, but a skincare routine just with the, the basics, it can make you feel more attractive. Just a regular skincare routine. Fashion clothes, dress to impress, put something on, put clothes on that make you feel better. It's also some some kind of self-care. And, last but not least, yeah, makeup. Makeup, for example. Makeup can can change your look. It can help you glow up in the morning before you go to work. So all these things work, but you also have to feel it like. They have to actually give you that kind of feeling that you are beautiful, beautiful the way you are.
Speaker 1:Tip number two is something I think makes a person more attractive. It's when they are really calm, when they are really Hmm, how to explain it when they're really present in the moment, really calm, not stressed. Let's quickly talk about stress and a stressed person. I don't think a stressed person looks attractive. We all know how a stressed person looks like like dark eye circles, panic, heart, high rates, sweating, just like panicking, and they might also say some things. That's not really attractive, like maybe they I don't know if someone is stressed, what do they say? They say negative things, they say things that they don't want to say because they are in this fight mode. So I think a stressed person yeah, immediately is not really attractive.
Speaker 1:There are different kinds of things, what you can do if you feel stressed, because stress is something we can't avoid. Every one of us is stressed from time to time, so it's something we can't avoid. But there are so many techniques that we can use to feel a little bit less stressed. I recorded a podcast episode about this last week so it's already up here on this podcast. You should definitely check it out. But there are different kind of ways that we can use or different kind of techniques to reduce stress and to deal better with stress. But I think it's important if you want to look and feel more attractive, more beautiful, then you should aim to be this calm, relaxed person. I like when a person comes into the room and they just seem to be so present and so calm and so here in the moment, and they talk slow. They don't go like blah, blah, blah, they just talk really slow and they listen. I really like that and I think that makes someone really really attractive.
Speaker 1:Tip number three, team, is we're going to talk about learning. We're going to talk about learning more about ourselves, about our bodies. That's something I'm experiencing right now. I really I spend less time on my phone and I really try to spend more time with myself, with my body. I try to understand myself better, and there are so many different things that you can do to get to know yourself better. It's either writing or talking to a therapist or going to therapy, it can be, I don't know standing naked in front of the mirror and just looking at yourself and at your body and trying to just I don't want to say loving yourself, but just yeah, just understanding your body and understanding how your body works and understanding that's really important what you like and what you don't like.
Speaker 1:So I'm really spending a lot of time get to know myself better and get to know my body a little bit better, and I think also, if a person knows what she wants, that makes someone also really, really attractive. I'm just thinking of a relationship right now. To be completely honest, I'm thinking of being in a relationship right now or it doesn't even have to be a relationship, but getting in team with someone. How attractive is it if someone knows what they want? To me, it's something so attractive if they know what they want or they are also okay with saying what they don't want and they're so confident with it and they really know how their body works and how their body looks like and they're so, so educated about it. I really like that, and I think that also makes a person really, really attractive. Get to know yourself a little bit better and then also, if you understand yourself a little bit better, then also be okay with different kinds of things and be not okay with different kinds of things, but don't shy away of saying them and just learn about yourself as much as you can, because that will help you feel better about yourself. I promise is that will help you feel better about yourself, I promise.
Speaker 1:Last but not least, to you the last tip, the last tip that I have for you today is body language. It's the way you stand, the way you sit, the way you look at someone. It makes a huge, it makes such a huge difference. And I want to say the way you look at someone, because that is something I struggled with for so, so long, meaning eye contact. I could not, I could not look someone into the eyes and just talk to someone. Like I could not, never.
Speaker 1:Also now, sometimes I struggle when I look at someone.
Speaker 1:I'm like should I look into the left eye?
Speaker 1:Should I look into the right eye?
Speaker 1:And I'm like, oh, into the left eye, should I look into the right eye? And I'm like, oh, this is so awkward, I don't know. So it's really, really hard for me to make eye contact, to keep eye contact something I still struggle with. But I keep practicing, I keep doing it and if, if you start like, if you also struggle with it, then just start with, I don't know, 10 seconds of eye contact. Try, try to have 10 seconds of eye contact with someone, then 30 seconds, then a minute, and then it sums up and then you keep practicing, you keep growing. But it really makes someone so attractive If they look into your eyes, if they sit straight, if they stand up tall. It's very, very important. So your body language says a lot about you. Eye contact says a lot about you.
Speaker 1:Eye contact says a lot about you and it's also something that you have to practice. Can I just say, for all the tips always that I give you, you can't just apply them overnight all of them and then you are the most beautiful person in the world. That's not how it works. You have to keep practicing with everything, with every single thing that I share in this podcast, every single tip that I give you. It's just an idea right now. You have to. First of all, you have to check in with yourself and you have to check if this is something for you that you want to try or apply or not. Like, check in with yourself if this sounds good for you or not, and then you have to practice. You have to apply it over and over and over again. Start small, start little by little and then keep doing it, and consistency is what makes it better and it's what helps you grow. Like doing something over and over again.
Speaker 1:Wow, I loved this podcast episode. I really really loved it. I totally forgot about time. Can I be honest? I have no idea how late it is and it's important for me right now. I have no idea how late it is and it's important for me right now because I have to take the train and I have to be careful that I don't miss the train, but I really really love this podcast episode. Thank you so much, team. Thank you so much for listening. I hope it was a good episode for you. I hope you got something out from it. I hope you feel inspired to work on yourself, to learn more about yourself, and thank you so much. That's all I can say. Thank you so much for listening. See you soon. Talk to you soon, bye.