The text on this card about made me fall down laughing, when I saw it as a meme on one particular Joan Collins Instagram tribute account. Joan Collins, of course — along with her Indefatigable alter ego, Alexis Carrington Colby, the character she played on Dynasty — is a prime example of a woman who used the power of her own beauty to her utmost advantage. Sure, she’s amassed wealth, fame, glamour, knighthood, and a hot younger husband, but so have plenty of other women… women who might strike you as shallow, or insecure, or even boring. Joan Collins, on the other hand, always looks like she’s actually enjoying herself. Authentic enjoyment, of course, is really the apex of personal power, even absent beauty, fame, or money. I don’t care if you’re actually all that pretty or good-looking by conventional standards. We could all benefit from regarding ourselves as eminently capable and powerful enough to rise above a situation, look down upon it with a mixture of amusement and pity, and, ultimately, flick some imaginary cigarette ash down upon it. There is much ugliness in the world, in the form of small, bruised egos clamoring to do battle with other small, bruised egos. But these inwardly unattractive men and women are, sadly, barking up the wrong tree. There will never be lasting satisfaction in one-upping yourself at the expense of another, or parading your puffed-up self around the town square like an insecure show pony. The greatest personal rewards come about, I believe, as a result of a quiet but rock-solid sense of security in one’s own worth and beauty, no matter what’s going on around you. Go ahead: realize that for yourself, right now. And I hope you feel a surge of delicious power coursing through your veins, when you do. ❤️‍🔥—Y.B.D.