paint yourself

we all have had those (days) when our cheeks hurt from smiling, when we have a little extra P-O-P in our step, and we just can't refrain from doing a little jig in the grocery store or thrusting up a powerful fist-pump into the air, because the day is just that good.

but then... 

do you ever have those (days) where you feel like you are a lion that ferociously tears yourself up inside, incessantly criticizing yourself until sometimes, you can barely keep yourself composed and collected? 

whether the insecurity is rooted in appearances, expectations, lack of accomplishments or acceptance, jobs, failures, grades, material belongings, people pleasing, reputations, or pulling the 'compare myself with some quote on quote "perfect person,"' we all have insecurities at some point in our lives.

 it is easy to be hard on ourselves. it is easy to compare our worst with everyone else's best.

it is easy to overlook the good in ourselves and get out our magnifying glasses to dissect the bad. 

for me, i am my own worst critique. 

maybe i don't have a perfect complexion or the most fab outfits, maybe i am not the most beautiful, powerful, hilarious, wealthy, or talented individual in the world. 

but i am me. i will only ever be me. 

so i have one choice--I can either love myself, or hate myself (and be miserable) 

it can be hard at times but i choose not to discredit all of my growth to be ugliness. i choose not to root my identity in faulty sources. i choose to love me.

***

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
- Maya Angelou

“I am an artist of my own creation. I like myself.”
--Sondra Ray

“I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.”
- Louisa May Alcott

***

i am not perfect and i am lucky to have help when i am stuck behind the bars of my own shortcomings.

when my husband picks my sleeping body off the coach and carries me to bed after i have procrastinated on a project, or looks past my blemished skin and tells me i am beautiful, or randomly scoops me up and makes me laugh when i have the worst day--> he reminds me to love myself, even (and especially) when i don't.

aside from our fellow friends & loved ones, we ALL can count on someone to lift us

 we ALL have a loving Savior who can create more out of us then we ever could alone. 

He will give us the strength and hope to keep moving, remind us of our true, divine worth, and carry us when we don't feel like we can go much longer. we have help. we mustn't give up.

just remember: you are the artist. paint yourself to love yourself.