After Midnight: Finding Your Inner Beauty

By Tristan Helm

t doesn’t matter what has happened to you: You have no less worth than anyone else – and you deserve to be loved.

This book highlights the pressure society places on women to look a certain way, but it is also applicable to men, who face mounting pressure to adopt a certain appearance. The author aims to bring focus on what beauty really is – a state of mind – and how we should present our attitudes and character.

The world’s view of beauty misrepresents the splendor of love and has offered one-night stands and an undignified, cruel way to view women. However, if women could ignore this carnal mind-set and allow what’s inside them to blossom, the world would not have an effect on them. Their self-esteem would build, and their attention would turn to things that God desires.

Inner beauty remains in you; it is your core, your personality. All you have to do is pay attention to that, and you will see how beautiful you can be.

Integrity, self-esteem, and character can be the compass that drives you forward. Find out how to bring these to the forefront of your life with the lessons in After Midnight.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781973688518

Tristan Helm

Tristan Helm, a native of Colorado and Oklahoma, grew up amid the influence of diverse people with diverse backgrounds. He has worked in the mental health field for the past 16+ years, specializing in habilitation skills with those who are mentally handicapped, incarcerated, mentally ill, or under custody of the state. He is passionate about helping people see their true worth and overcome obstacles. He has five children and lives in Texas with his wife. He works as a mental health professional as well as public speaking events. For more information on his services or contact him for speaking events please refer to www.Helmmastery.com

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 Tristan Helm.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

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without the written permission of the author except in the case of

brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-9736-8852-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-8853-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-8851-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020904689

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/23/2020

Contents

Before Midnight: Beyond the Dress and Slippers

Ugly Starts with an A

You Are Valuable

You Are Beautiful

You Are Loved

You Are Special

Are You Ready?

After Midnight: Putting the Slippers on Again

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Before Midnight: Beyond

the Dress and Slippers

The minute hand moved. Tick—11:58. The night had been perfect. The prince had been dancing with the most beautiful woman at the ball for a little more than an hour. She had come in late, and everyone in the palace noticed her. She had not been seen before—there or in the town anywhere—but mysteriously, she was suddenly there. It was almost transcendent. She came from what seemed like out of nowhere. She was with the prince dancing in this beautiful gown shining for everyone to see and admire.

Tick—11:59. The middle hand strikes and echoes in the ballroom. The prince and the mysterious woman had lost track of time gazing into each other’s eyes, completely smitten with each other. The minute hand struck midnight, and the bell chimed throughout the palace. She gasped in astonishment—the time had come. Her godmother had told her everything would wear off at midnight. She escaped from the arms of the prince, leaving only a shoe behind at the ballroom steps. She fled to her chariot and her home with her two stepsisters and stepmom. She was a servant girl with raggedy clothes and lived in the basement of her home. The mysterious woman was none other than the one and only Cinderella.

We all know this story and how it ends. The prince looked throughout the town for the beautiful princess he had met the night before. He had almost given up looking for her when finally, the princess he thought he was searching for turned out to be dressed in humble servant clothes—ragged and unroyal apparel. Her name was revealed. The prince knelt and slowly slid the glass slipper onto her foot. The fairy dust swirled around her, and her clothes turned into a beautiful dress. She was revealed as the beautiful princess from the night before. They married and lived happily ever after.

What escapes most people’s minds is that Cinderella had been beautiful long before the makeover from her godmother. She had the spirit of a woman of virtue and value before she met the prince. Her princess dress was merely the outward appearance of her inner character.

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This story beautifully illustrates the purpose of this book, which is to reveal the virtue inside every woman and man and reveal some of the diminishing and fading features on the outside. Cinderella’s story doesn’t really pique my interest; it’s not exactly on my top-ten movie list, but in it I have found the definition of real beauty. The prince didn’t actually find the beautiful princess he had danced with and who had run off leaving only a slipper. He found a woman clothed in character and modesty, a woman who was lovely inside and out, and he married that woman.

Cinderella was attractive long before she attended the ball because her true beauty was inside her. The story doesn’t talk about what happened after they married. The only part of the story that it nails is the type of person she was. It speaks of her kindness and morality, how she even attracted animals and sang beautifully. There are many versions of this story, and some are much more gruesome than others (such as the dark portrayals in the Grimms’ version of the character). But the one thing that most of them have in common is the representation of the type of person Cinderella was.

This world and today’s entertainment industry has snuck its way into the minds of women and men in a subtle and deceitful way and has determined what their views of beauty are. They have used psychology to influence the way people view beauty—as a matter of appearance and physical shape. They demean those not fitting into this particular mold and make them feel inadequate for not measuring up to that standard.

I am not saying that outer beauty and attractiveness do not have any meaning; I am saying those should not be portrayed as the main elements of someone’s attractiveness. The world has silently issued decrees concerning what is acceptable, and it attempts to redefine what beauty is through hidden stimuli. I think differently about what should define attractiveness.

The world targets women using sex appeal as propaganda. Men tend to be governed by what they see, so the world emphasizes how a woman should appear to either sell something or advertise a show or something of that nature, and it opposes anyone or anything that does not share its view on the matter.

What is inside a person is far more important than outer appearances. I have directed this book mainly at women due to the pressure that society puts on them about how they look, but it is just as applicable to men, who are no different. Society has done the same thing to men; it has distorted their view of what a woman should look like and be. It has even gone as far as to depict how a man should look physically. I want to change that perspective and help bring focus on what beauty really is—a state of mind—and how we all should present our attitudes and character.

Inner beauty can grab the right someone’s attention and attraction. I am speaking of love—real love—not just attractiveness and outward appeal but unbiased and patient love, not puppy love or Hollywood’s distorted version of it.

The love I am referring to is found in 1 Corinthians 13. It is a love that is patient and kind. It doesn’t boast. It isn’t envious. It gives of itself. It is real, authentic, and sincere love. Attraction is important, but physical attraction can be highly affected