When you look at a beauty magazine, what do you see? Typically, you see perfection. You see people with perfect skin, perfect figures, and every hair in place. This is not reality, however. Reality is full of imperfections.

When you walk among the crowd at the mall, for instance, you will see athletic people, smokers, and many others. You will see people with protruding bellies and bags under their eyes. These people look the way they do for a variety of reasons, such as heredity and lifestyle choices.

When you see people who do not look their best, vow to yourself that you will never look like they do. Do not take drastic measures to look better or to improve your health. Drastic measures can have disastrous results. Instead, be smart. Begin an exercise program so that you will not become overweight. Work out at least three times a week. In addition to helping you to watch your weight, exercise will help you to sleep better and control stress. Avoid smoking, so that you can be healthier, live longer, and avoid having hair and clothing that smell like smoke.

Get enough sleep, so that you will feel your best, be alert, and avoid the bags and dark circles under the eyes that result from a lack of sleep. There are some situations, of course, when you will not get enough sleep, such as when you are a graduate student who is staying up late to finish and submit a research paper. The hours drag on, but you cannot go to bed until the paper is done. You need more information in order to have a good paper, so you do more research. You research, write, read, and read again, just to make sure that your paper makes sense. Anything that does not make sense will cost you points and lower your grade.

At last, your masterpiece is done. You smile to yourself in satisfaction, hit the "submit" button to submit your paper to your professor, and breathe a sigh of relief. Your paper has been turned in, and now, at last, you can go to bed. You will sleep soundly and dream sweet dreams. When you wake up, you will likely have dark circles under your eyes. They can be covered by concealer, however. You are a living, breathing person, and there is no reason to airbrush you. Let the world see how beautiful you are.