you're more beautiful than you think. {a beautiful 2013 post}

So. I've been working on this resolution thing, right? This whole working on what the word beautiful is to me, and why I struggle with it so much.

Some days I don't really know what to right about on here about this, because it's just so dang personal.

Then there are days where God just puts something in your lap and says, "is this what you're looking for?!"

So, this Dove video has been circulating around. I'm usually not one to take to the norm and watch things that are constantly viewed/shared on facebook, but this one was worth my time. It's worth yours, too, so stop what you're doing and watch it (even if you already have, it's worth seeing again).

If I had to do what they did, I'd do the same thing- I'd point out every single line, roll, and freckle before I'd highlight anything good about myself. It's just how I think about myself, it's how I've always thought of myself-in a negative light.

I've mentioned before how other people have hurt me enough to make me hate my body. I've mentioned how I've never had a good self-esteem, how I've never seen myself as beautiful. God's been changing that, for sure, as of late. But it's still a struggle, no doubt. As I mentioned in my last post those voices still plague me.

You're not good enough.
You're not worthy.
You'll be beautiful if {fill in the blank}.
If only you were thin like {insert person here}.

You get the picture.

We are our own worst critics. As seen in the video, we see ourselves in the worst light. Only 4% of women around the WORLD believe they're beautiful.

4%.


I've never felt beautiful when I'm looking in the mirror or when I see myself in pictures. It's a struggle to feel like I'm worthy of that 'title', beautiful.  I know I am and we all are because of who we are and how we were made. But it's still a struggle to see it in my life.

We can't let ourselves think like that anymore, ladies. And I'm saying this for me as much as I am for anyone else!

Look at the video and how drastically different the sketches of women are- when they describe themselves, and when others describe them. Isn't it just wild how others see what we can't? People see beauty much easier when it's not them they're talking about. How and why did we get this way?! How can someone point out every single flaw in them, yet someone else who doesn't know them be able to describe them in such a different way?

We've been having a woman's chapel these past two Mondays called Unspoken. It's been really great. The topic is about shame,  something we don't necessarily discuss often. Last night Caroline said the most common thing we said we were shameful about was body image. That we aren't good enough, we aren't beautiful enough, we aren't worthy. It's all those voices in our lives whispering we deserve to feel this way about ourselves.

Shame is what makes me hate myself some days. Not all days (anymore), but some. Shame is what makes us see ourselves radically different than what others and what God sees us as.  Shame is the memories and the voices in my life teaching me this lie about not being beautiful, and that all that matters is how I look in the mirror.

 There is so much more than that mirror. There is so much more than shame. There is so much more than those voices inside your head saying you're not beautiful.

You're more beautiful than you think.