Philautia’s Love, Act II “The path to becoming a woman who can stop and admire the beauty she finds within herself, both inside and out, felt terminally vain. History taught us that it was something we had to earn, not something we were allowed to come into this world bearing. Hence I was mentally tone-deaf to the idea of it for so long. There is freedom in this sincerity: the truth that all flaws are universal. No matter the man, woman, or anyone in between. And even though fear keeps us from denying we can be considered one's own muse, denying this fact will only come back to torment our attention in the long run. It was in this realization that I chose to live within my own self-worth as cathartically as humanly possible.”