You are Beautiful, Inside and Out

I have perhaps gained a reputation among close personal friends. The phrase “real-life troll” has been kicked around by those that are in the know. I can neither confirm nor deny this allegation, but the following evidence has been entered into the record:

Recently, I had a phrase come to me… from somewhere. At some point I typed it into my phone as a note-to-self, but I have no source information. Maybe I heard it on a podcast? Maybe I heard it from a friend? Maybe I overheard it in a bar? Maybe a muse whispered in my ear as I slept? At any rate, the message was:

Somebody loves you. You’re not perfect, but you’re beautiful, inside and out.

This resonated for some reason. The statement “you’re not perfect” creeps a little bit into the troll spectrum, but the overall message is 100% positive, and can even bring a happy tear to my eye if it catches me in just the right mood. Wait, did I say tear? I mean it makes my eye sweat.

This felt like a message to pass along. So I decided to do just that. A little work in my favorite graphic design program, and a little bit of upload and credit transfer at my favorite on-demand sticker site, and I had a hundred stickers.

What I really wanted was window-clings to attach to mirrors in bar bathrooms. I figured that route had a twofold benefit: they’re easy to peel off if the bar staff didn’t want them there, and they’re easy for bar patrons to “steal” and propagate into their own lives. Unfortunately in my research, window clings of that size, in a quantity of a couple of hundred, were cost-prohibitive. We’re talking like $5 each. WTF? Vinyl stickers it is.

In the last few weeks, I’ve been sticking them on the mirrors of bar bathrooms. I’ve focused on gender-neutral, single-occupancy bathrooms, since I feel that would have better impact than just the mens room. Does that make me sexist? Or reverse-sexist? I’m not sure I’m clear.

What’s more — to keep the spirit of the “steal it and add it to your own life” window cling, and to better propagate the sentiment, I’ve also tried to leave one or two unused stickers behind for people to take.

Remember: you’re not perfect, but you’re beautiful inside and out.

Posted in: Projects

Published by

Brian Enigma

Brian Enigma is a Portlander, manipulator of atoms & bits, minor-league blogger, and all-around great guy. He typically writes about the interesting “maker” projects he's working on, but sometimes veers off into puzzles, software, games, local news, and current events.

One thought on “You are Beautiful, Inside and Out”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *