 |
| Celebrating a First Birthday with my friend Kristin's family! |
Over the past year especially, I haven't really liked being in pictures. I've never been camera-shy. Not even at my very heaviest; but something about gaining back a lot of weight that I worked so hard to lose makes it difficult to want that captured for all time. (Okay, that may be a bit dramatic, but you get the idea.)
 |
| Working hard on our bathroom remodel. Check out my pink tools! |
Then, not too long ago, I saw a link on Facebook about an article about a child's perspective of their mother as they grew. The author talked about when she learned that "Mom was fat and ugly", or something to that extent. It was when she heard her mother say those things about herself. Before that, Mom was the most beautiful person she could imagine.
This got me thinking. Even though I don't have kids now, what kind of example do I want to be for them in the future? Do I want my kids hearing me call myself fat and ugly? I know my husband doesn't like it, and I do it more than I'd care to admit.
How do I want my littles to view themselves? Where do I want them to glean their worth? Certainly not from their physical appearance or unmet goals.
 |
| Celebrating a bridal shower for Staci. |
 |
| I got to sit by one of my good friends, Kristi! |
The more I thought about this, the more I realized that I can't just change a deep-seated habit in myself overnight. And if I want to act differently when I have kids, why wouldn't I want to act differently now?
 |
| Celebrating my sis-in-law, Kim, currently carrying my soon-to-be niece! |
How does it affect my husband, who thinks I'm beautiful, says it often, and then hears me refute his compliments? How does it affect my attitude about God and His creation? What does it say about my faith in who He is and who He has created me to be?
 |
| Capturing a good hair/make-up day in true selfie form. |
In my heart of hearts, I believe I am beautiful - because God created me - and He doesn't make mistakes. And on really good hair and make-up days, I think I'm beautiful on the outside, too. But there are a lot of not-so-good days when I can't stand the woman in the mirror. But those days should not dictate my self-worth.
So I decided to start taking more pictures again. In 50 years, who will care about rolls and double chins anyway? No one! Besides, selfies are all the rage right now. I even did this one in the bathroom.
Question: Do you find it difficult to be in pictures? Why or why not?
Beautiful truth. It takes work to combat what the world tells us is the only way to be beautiful. Which is a lie. We are beautiful, I want so badly for Eliana to never question that about herself. She is beautiful with or without boobs, fat, hair, bony shoulders, or a zig zag nose and none of it bears and weight on what she is worth. She/We/You/Me are precious.
ReplyDeleteJust after I had the baby I was without makeup for many weeks (because really, a shower alone felt like a spa day at that point) Seeing myself in the mirror over and over again like that changed something in me. I got more comfortable with my face 's natural look. (I also, began to grow comfortable with my tiger striped belly). It's been a huge blessing. My heart hopes that more and more people can begin to look in the mirror and be content with themselves. It takes replacing the old thoughts with new, and throwing those old thoughts away when they pop in your head. One. at. a. time.
Thank you so much, Dania! I totally agree!
Deletethanks for posting about this - this is something that i struggle with all the time... great share from the heart!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! And thank you for reading!
DeleteSeriously.... You really are SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Melissa! So are you!
Delete