Beauty pageants may not be something you give much thought to if you’ve never been interested in entering one or watching one. Plus, they tend to have a bit of a stigma. While some people think they send a bad message about beauty standards or are an outdated, sexist idea, they’re still popular today for children and adult women and are definitely something that the women involved in the pageant world take seriously.
There is actually a lot of work that goes into entering pageants, and any former winner will tell you that winning a contest is about a lot more than having a nice smile and looking good in a swimsuit!
Here are some things that all of us can learn from pageant entrants:
Talents and Interests Make People More Interesting
Most people are aware that pageant contestants are expected to perform a piece in a talent section for most competitions. This is often the most entertaining part of the pageant for people watching, as it can include a variety of different interesting skills.
While a lot of contestants will sing or dance, or play a musical instrument, the talent section can include almost anything, including magic tricks, dramatic monologues, and even stand-up comedy! But what can we take away from this?
This is the chance pageant girls get to show something of themselves and impress the judges and audience by having an interesting skill or hobby. Having something that you are passionate about and develop your skills in not only makes your own life more satisfying and rewarding, it also makes you more interesting to other people.
Just as pageant contestants have to show off the things they put their time into getting good at on the stage, you can make yourself shine as a job candidate, or on a dating site, or when meeting new people, by having one or more hobbies or interests beyond passive things like reading or watching movies.
How to Own Formal Dresses
Another part of the typical pageant is the evening wear round, and this is where contestants show off their taste and style in beautiful, glamorous pageant dresses. Now, these dresses are not something special and unique that only pageant girls ever get to wear, but the kind of thing that almost everyone will have occasion to wear sometimes – for instance, if invited to a black-tie event.
But many people don’t really feel like themselves when dressed up like they are hitting the red carpet, and so the attitude to really own wearing expensive, glamorous gowns is something that it can be good to learn by channeling your inner Miss America.
If you are shopping for a dress for a special occasion, you can check out some of the gorgeous pageant dresses by Jovani. Jovani is a fashion brand that has provided evening wear for lots of high tier pageant girls, but also for all kinds of other people (including celebrities) when they need a stunning dress for a big occasion.
Grace Under Pressure
For pageant contestants, the desire to perform at their best without messing up, along with the highly competitive environment, can be extremely stressful, and that is before you consider that they also have to do things like answer sometimes quite difficult questions in front of a large audience within a time limit.
While it may be easy to laugh at the clips of pageant contestants freezing up when asked how to solve world hunger or about complicated political matters, these are often questions that even professors in the subjects would struggle to answer in a charming and coherent way on the fly, with only a short time to speak.
The girls who do well at this kind of challenge are the ones who are able to stay calm despite the pressure, think quickly about what they want to say, and then talk eloquently without letting their nerves or possible lack of truly satisfying answer show.
This is really what this test is all about – nobody really expects that a teenage girl in an evening gown can articulate actual solutions to complex economic or social issues in less than a minute. Being able to present yourself and your ideas well even when you are feeling a lot of pressure is a hugely valuable life skill, and one that pageant contestants work on more than many other people.
As you can see, whether it is being able to confidently rock a glamorous outfit, express yourself under pressure, or even make yourself a more interesting person to others by having interests you are passionate about, there are certainly things where all of us could stand to take example from the contestants who enter beauty pageants!
Identity Magazine is all about guiding women to discover their powers of Self-Acceptance, Appreciation, and Personal Achievement. We ask that every contributor and expert answer the Identity questions in keeping with our theme.
Their answers can be random and in the moment or they can be aligned with the current article they have written. In that way, we hope to encourage and motivate each other, thus inspiring you to Get All A’s.
What have you accepted within your life, physically and/or mentally? Additionally, what are you still working on accepting? Now, we’re not talking about resignation, rather stepping into, embraced, and owned.
I have come to accept my failures as well as my strengths in dealing with day to day struggles. I understand that sometimes situations cannot always be controlled and that I should learn to appreciate the good times and accept that whatever happens, happens.
Appreciation is everything. What have you learned to appreciate about yourself and/or within your life, physically and mentally? On the other hand OR in contrast, are there elements of who you are that you’re still working on appreciating?
I have learned to appreciate the people I have that have stuck by me. It’s rare to meet individuals who become an integral part of your life offering support and companionship especially at times when you need it most.
Share with us one of your most rewarding achievements in life? Tell us not only what makes YOU most proud but also share the goals and dreams that you still have.
The biggest achievement in my life would be my 2 children. The goals I have are what I strive to give to my kids for them to have a better life.
Photo by Matthew T Rader on Unsplash
