Growing up, all I knew was that I was NOT the pretty one!
I’ve been called all sorts of names for my dark complexion, and most guys I knew would approached my lighter complexioned cousins before ever speaking directly to me. After a while, I just got used to it – hoping that people would speak to me long enough to notice my personality, my humor. That’s when I typically got the attention of others.
For years, I just thought that I was not all that attractive. I thought I had been dealt a bad hand and just had to wait my turn. There were so many pretty women out there – how was I supposed to compete?
Something changed in me as I got older, wiser, and became a mother. I realized that there was a beautiful young child I was responsible for – I had to raise her to know that she was so beautiful and worthy. But how could I teach her a feeling, a knowing I didn’t have myself? And so the journey to self love began.
I started searching for my purpose in EVERYTHING I did! What was I doing everyday? Was it bringing me joy? What was I purposed to do?
It was during this journey that I recognized some of my issues during those earlier days. I thought I was constantly being judged by others based on my skin tone, but what did I think about my skin tone? Did I believe what they said about me? I would compare myself constantly to other women and it would keep me paralyzed in friendships – kept me wondering how inferior I must seem to them. At some point, I wanted more for my life so I could be an example to my little girl. I wanted more for her than I wanted for myself. The only way to teach her how to love herself, was to admit my own insecurities and learn to love myself much better than I had before.
Then, I realized I had a decision to make…either I was going to allow others to determine my worth and beauty or I was going to decide it for myself. Because of my faith, I started with what I heard God saying about all creation, then myself personally. It wasn’t long before I accepted the self love challenge and chose to believe I was not only beautiful, but worthy of love, joy, peace, and all the wonderful things I dreamed about. You see, I overcame my jealousy, fear, and insecurities by digging deep into self love. It was the only way I could stop the negative thoughts about myself from flooding my brain. For me, self love was the move.
Begin your own journey towards self love outside of the opinions of others and KNOW that your’e WORTH _________ (fill in your blank and repeat it out loud DAILY or as many times as necessary!).
