Inches mean nothing but the weight of your words and actions are everything.
~ Sue Bryce
Ladies, what is it about looking at ourselves in a photo that brings out our insecurities?
I want you to know: Your weight is the least interesting thing about you. In fact, a friend of mine recently showed friends and family an old picture of herself 100 pounds heavier and everyone said the same thing. WOW . . . I don’t remember you looking like that. Why? Because that’s not what you see when you look at someone you love. That’s your partner, your children, your parents, your best friend. You are not the size of your jeans, you are the love you have for others, the love that comes straight out of your eyes, you are the laughter you bring, the comfort in your voice the nurturing in your hands, the patience in your listening, the warmth in your hug. You are the trust and knowing that you are part of my life and I am part of yours.
My Mom taught me a great lesson. Make the BEST of it. Whatever you have, whatever you are faced with, what ever you are going through - make the BEST of it. Anything you resist will persist. Until you learn from it. You will not change anything until you learn to accept it, then love it, then you will make the best of it. So if acceptance is about saying this is me now and you can both accept and embrace that, then maybe you can celebrate it. You can learn that self love is acceptance and kindness and forgiveness and grace. That you are worth love and you are worth everything good in this world and the more YOU value YOU the more others will. #existinphotos For you and all the people who love you. Just embrace everything you are and everything you have.
And if you’re thinking that high school friend on Facebook will say to herself (“wow she has gained weight”) then . . . newsflash you DID. You gained weight. Shed a tear. Read a book. Drink some tea. Do whatever it takes. Accept this reality. The truth is you’ve gained a lot of other things too (a career, a family, kids, a home) and that girl from high school is going to spend a lot more time hating on those things than she ever will on your double chin.
So you’re feeling too fat to be photographed? . . . Ok. But you’re the only one who notices. The rest of us are too caught up in loving you.
Can we agree to put the value of family over the value of fat?
Can we just accept that the weight you’ve been trying to lose for 5 years might actually just be a part of what you look like . . . and that if this magical day does come when you’re acceptably thin you’ll STILL regret not having any pictures of you with your kids?
Can we acknowledge that the insecurities we have in our heads will never be a part of how our children, husbands, and friends see us? Can we just please let our loved ones remember the YOU they love?
Your loved ones will never say, “These photos of mom are OK- but they would have been better if she had lost 20 pounds.” Do you say that of the photos you have of your mom?
Your children just want pictures with their mom. We try to give our kids so much, give them this – photos that last a lifetime…many lifetimes.
It's about shining from the inside
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