Move over Obama, it’s time for a REAL change.

No, this isn’t a political post in the least bit. It’s a “self-help” post I guess.

Today, my dear friend Ashley, who has been mentioned in the last three of my posts, sent me a link to this woman’s blog:

NieNie Dialogues

To make a long story short, this woman and her husband were involved in a airplane crash in August of last year. Stephanie, suffered especially, physically. she looks like a completely different person, but she doesn’t wallow, she presses forward.

and I think…

What was I doing last August?

Well I was probably doing a lot of things, however, I know that intertwined with the events, boys, and crying over boys, I was moping around about how fat I was, how ugly my hair color was, how big my pores were, how unkempt my eyebrows were, how crooked my teeth were, about the pastiness of my skin. etc etc etc. [run on sentence to the max]

And someone was nearly dying, and being stripped of their outward beauty, not by choice.

Often times, I look back on pictures of myself and think “Look how cute I was, I wish I could have appreciated it then.” And guess what? I’m going to wish that I could appreciate how cute I was now in 3 years time, probably.

I. CAN’T. LIVE. LIKE. THIS.

photo: courtesy of taylor giddens

I am a beautiful girl. YOU are beautiful. The person who is reading this. Man and woman alike. We are beautiful people. Our physical faults are part of us, and some of them we can’t change.

So many of us, can not take a compliment. It was something I had to overcome as well.

If you’re reading this, and you have a difficult time take a compliment, next time someone says something nice about you, just say, “Thank you.” It feels good. Trust me.

Anyway, what I am simply getting at is that I don’t care what boys think, I don’t care what girls think, I don’t care what the media thinks, I don’t care what Tyra Banks and her judging panel thinks, everyone is beautiful to someone, which is reason enough to be beautiful to yourself.

Will you please, please stop insulting and downplaying yourself?  I only speak highly of you now.  I know you're afraid because you doubt your physical appearance.  I know you're afraid because you doubt your impact on my life.  But I have the same fears.  And no, I'm not the boy who says, "She's not the best looking, but she's really cool."

I am done downplaying myself, dear.