What if you just decide to be yourself??

Can I ask you something? Who told you that you had to have botox, hair extensions, eyelash extensions, smooth foreheads, no crows feet, no laugh lines, six pack abs, no fat rolls, skinny long legs, a tiny waist and weigh 105 pounds to be beautiful? Who told you that you had to have a Louis Vuitton purse, all the latest fashions, the big house, SUV, trainer and gym membership, belong to the local whose who club and have 1100 friends on Facebook to be popular and fit in and make an impact somewhere? Where is this self image coming from? Where is this idea of self worth being in our outward appearance coming from? It’s not healthy for us to walk around feeling like we have to change our looks so much to fit in somewhere with fake people! I think maybe right now this time we find ourselves in, might be making us stop and take a look at that. Does our happiness and self worth really come from any of that? I am not judging here, I love like the next person to get my hair done, to put something nice on and go out to dinner with my husband or my girlfriends and feel good about myself. What I am saying is I think bad self image is the driving force making so many people feel bad about themselves and causing them to spend thousands of dollars trying to fit in. If your self worth lies in any of that, please spend some time alone and do some soul searching and realize you don’t need that stuff to be amazing and beautiful!

I have had a personal trainer and gym memberships off and on over the past 25 years. Health is SO important, don’t lose what I am about to say. I did not have a trainer just to be cool and say I had one. I had a trainer because I had gained so much weight over my years of dealing with fertility and pumping myself full of hormones that I needed a plan, and I knew that without professional help, I would not be able to change and get healthy. I still had to put in the work. What I want you to realize is that you need to be healthy, you have one and only one body, but health is not the same for everybody. A number on the scale, a certain BMI, how many days a week you move your body is different for everybody. Do not get caught up in somebody else’s version of health. I am bigger boned, I know that, but I also know how I feel at a certain weight. I know that high blood pressure and strokes and heart problems run in my family and I am now at a point in my life where what I do could determine the quality of the rest of my life. Just be the healthiest version of you, eat healthy and move your body every single day. Do not let somebody else’s body be the driving factor for what you do! You have to get real with yourself about what you need and let that be the picture of health for you! Don’t waste tons of money on programs and products because some supermodel does it, or Sally down the street who has the killer body does it, or you don’t want left out in your club of women because they all do something and you don’t. Own your truth! Listen to YOUR body!

What about botox, hair extensions, fake lashes, lip injections, liposuction, and on and on. I am not judging if you do any of this! Hey, I wore fake lashes for Halloween and thought I looked pretty good! I’m with you, but what I am asking is what is your motivation behind doing all of this? If it is to fit in, or to make you feel like you’re only beautiful with this stuff, then I would recommend taking a look at yourself. If you hang around people who make you feel like you must do this to fit in with them, you need new friends. I am again just asking you to take a look at yourself and feel beautiful for who you are! You don’t need this stuff to be beautiful! Feel beautiful for your kind heart, for your compassion, because you’re an amazing wife and mother, because you are a great cook, because you’re funny, because you show up every day for those who need you. The list of things is too endless to go on, but you get the point. You are simply beautiful because you’re you and you can’t authentically be anyone else! You have gifts! You have a life to live and people to impact that nobody but you can.

I hope that maybe I have convicted somebody to just decide to be your true authentic life and stop comparing yourself to everybody else. I think if we did this, we might find that when we are living and being our true authentic selves, our lives would be so much more fulfilling! Take the pressure off to be like everybody else! My sisters please stop stressing over what you don’t have and realize you are a masterpiece made by God! You don’t have to spend every single day trying to be like somebody else! You are gloriously you! Maybe it’s time to stop following some people on social media that make us feel bad about ourselves. Take the time you would be spending looking at other people and make a list of your great qualities. Then, make a list of the things you would like to change, but only to make yourself feel better and be your best self! If you need to lose a few pounds, do it. If you need to be more active, stop talking about it and doing it. If you want growth, start reading and following people who are experts in that area. We all have areas we want to work on, but do it for you, not to fit in somewhere. Do it to feel like the best version of yourself! I sound like a broken record here, but who you were made to be matters! Big hair, straight hair, glasses, big nose, rolls around your middle, big thighs, bird legs, funny, serious, just you, just like God made you to be!

I want to leave you with this quote from Rachel Hollis! She says “It’s time to stop apologizing for who you are. It’s time to become who you were made to be.”

With love for you all,

Shauna