Hey you...

"Hey you...

 

yes, you!

 

Stop being unhappy with yourself.

 

You are perfect.

 

Stop wishing you looked like someone else.

 

Stop trying to get attention from those who hurt you.

 

Stop hating your body,

 

your face,

 

your personality,

 

your quirks.

 

Love them.

 

Without those things, you wouldn't be you,

 

and why would you want to be anyone else?

 

Be confident with who you are.

 

Smile,

 

it'll draw people in.

 

If anyone hates on you because you are happy with yourself,

 

then you stick your middle finger in the air and say,

 

Screw it.

 

My happiness will not depend on others anymore.

 

I'm happy because I love who I am.

 

I love my flaws.

 

I love my imperfections.

 

They make me,  me

 

and me is pretty amazing."

 

 

Honestly I don't know where the above quote came from, but I typed it up a couple of years ago and kept in on my dresser so I would see it first thing every morning. I would read it over and over trying to get myself to believe it. There were times where I would believe parts of it and times that I wouldn't. Self-confidence has always been a struggle for me!

 

Over time the paper got put in a drawer and forgotten about. Over the past weekend I found it again and it couldn't have come at a better time. I have really been working hard over the past month to make positive changes, get organized, and figure things out.  Loving myself and who I am is something that I continue to struggle with. I feel like this is true for so many women that I know! Why is this? Why do we judge ourselves so harshly?

 

Recently, when I was reading "Choose to Lose: The 7 Day Carb Cycle Solution" by Chris Powell,  I came across a section on SABOTAGING YOUR SELF RESPECT and it really hit home for me and may explain why I struggle - this is what I do all the time! I say to myself, "I will start eating better on Monday" or "I am going to..... (complete with any number of things)"  and then at the end of the day or week things change and I haven't done it and I feel like a complete failure. I let myself down. I break promises to myself and my self-esteem goes down. I am sure this sounds familiar!

 

As Chris Powell says in this section of the book, "Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, promise after broken promise, you've fallen so deep into despair that it seems there's no more hope- until you make a simple declaration. It's time to be authentic with yourself... truly and completely honest."

 

 I am taking a hard look in the mirror and saying to myself and to all of you-

I have not fulfilled promises that I have made to myself. It has hurt my self-esteem and confidence. But now I am re-committing to my goals!

 

 

 

 

Chris Powell goes on to talk about GROWING YOUR INTEGRITY. He explains that your integrity - the value you place on yourself- is delicate and that it needs to be nurtured to grow. The way that you can start to do this is by fulfilling just one promise to yourself. One promise leads to two. Two leads to three and so on. I am ready to grow my integrity so I am going to start doing this! I am going to start making promises to myself and doing what it takes to keep them. 

 

 

I am going to start by making the same declaration that Chris has all of his transformation clients make and I am sharing it with all of you here because it can't be a silent promise - that would be too easily broken as Chris says.

 

I am saying it loud,

 

with conviction,

 

and I am taking responsibility.

 

 

"My current lifestyle is not working for me. I am ready for a change. I CHOOSE to use my inner strength and resourcefulness to fulfill the daily commitments that will lead to a thinner, healthier, happier me. I am now an athlete-in-training."