You Are Beautiful

A couple months ago, on Mother's Day to be exact, my family and I went to celebrate the day at Meso Maya, a Latin restaurant, located near downtown Dallas.  As we concluded our festive lunch, I got a nudge from my daughter, "Mommy, I need to go to the bathroom."  So there we went, off to the bathroom.  I have this habit that whenever Mia uses the bathroom, it immediately makes me want to go. While reaching over to grab some toilet paper, there was this silver sticker with the words, "You are Beautiful" written on it.  I froze for a moment, read the sticker and I have to admit, the words were perfect and it actually made me feel good inside.

Fast forward - Earlier this month I was on the Oprah website and there was a link to an article called "The sticker that started a world phenomenon."  Wow!  I had to read this.  Once I clicked on the link, it brought up a picture of the silver sticker I had seen once before in a bathroom on Mother's Day.  It turns out this sticker was created in part of a movement to share positivity, strength and confidence.  This movement was created by a man named Matthew Hoffman about ten years ago, initially with only 100 stickers.  Since then over half a million stickers have been printed and have made their way all over the world spreading his vision.  Amazing.

Matthew wants us all to share in his vision by getting some of his stickers and spreading them around everywhere we go.  If you are interested, click on the link below and it will take you to the You are Beautiful site. 

YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL

Watch this inspiring video of how Michael got started, how he created this project and how it has taken off like a rocket!  I'm ordering my stickers soon.  So if you see them around Dallas, you may just know that I left my mark.

In continuing with this message, I must say we have all held insecurities about ourselves whether they were physical, about our upbringing or how intelligent we are or are not.  When I was younger I was always teased about how skinny I was.  I never focused on my weight until people, including family, would point out my flaws.  I was called toothpick legs, skin and bones,  a giraffe because I was tall and slim and I was called a four eyed freak because I wore glasses.  I use to think so badly about myself at times and stare at myself in the mirror hating what I saw.  I never wore shorts, skirts or dresses.  I never wore heels because they would only make me look taller. I begged my parents to buy me contacts, which I finally managed to score at the age of 13.  Somehow along the way, I slowly started getting rid of these insecurities, but when I did, it was almost an immediate 180 reaction from everyone else.  You're conceited, you think you are all that.  Who does she think she is?

Well I was a very insecure girl, who had broken down a wall and finally felt pretty and now I was being hated for that. I didn't understand.  When your ugly, you get made fun of, but when you're "pretty", you are disliked.  I experienced both sides and both were equally exhausting and draining. 

Even with gaining confidence, it took me a while to wear anything that revealed my legs.  There was a point where I completely hated my legs.  The funny thing, is now they are one of my favorite features. I will have to say the turning point of wearing skirts and shorts happened after I watched a movie called, "Shallow Hal".  Gwyneth Paltrow was thin with slim legs and wore a skirt in several scenes.  I looked at her and thought wow, she's slim, tall and she looks great.  Soon after guess who was showing off her legs?  You guessed it.  I haven't stopped since.  And while I may not have the best legs in the world, they are mine and I love them.

 

 Some people don’t realize when you make fun of a person for being skinny, it’s equally as offensive and hurtful as calling a person fat.  I still get comments to this day about my weight and I think it’s so stupid.  Sometimes I wish I did have a curvaceous body, but that’s not what I was given.  I’m actually pretty happy now.  It’s quite funny though, to think of the very things I was made fun of are the things that people actually wish they had – a slimmer body, darker skin tone and height.

At 29 years old, I still deal with insecurities, as we all do.  There’s no denying we all dislike certain things about ourselves.  But in the end, we are all God’s creation, we are his masterpiece and we need to be thankful for the things we love about ourselves rather than focusing on the negative.  There are always people out there who have it worse than us. Besides physical attributes fade – boobs sag, stomachs get squishy, hair falls out and wrinkles start to appear.  What matters is what’s in our hearts, our personality and our ability to be outstanding people. So the next time someone makes fun of you or if you find yourself standing in front of a mirror picking every flaw, remember that we are all dealing with similar situations, but we must remember that we ARE all beautiful.  

You are God’s most prized possession; God made you who you are on purpose; Be content in who God made you to be; We have to accept who God made us to be; Be at peace on the inside in who God made you to be; It’s not what the painting looks like, it’s about Who painted it (God); We have been painted by the greatest Painter there is (God)! - Joel Osteen