Hey Mama, You Are So Much More Beautiful Than You Think.

Hey Mama, You Are So Much More Beautiful Than You Think.

Please watch this video before reading this blog post.

Dove Real  Beauty Video (Click link to watch)

Have you seen this ladies? A friend pointed me in this direction during a recent conversation about teen girls, self-image, peer pressure and mental health. A weighty subject indeed. 

And this short little snippet rocked my world.

Because I could totally relate to the women depicted, and that made me very sad. I also knew; instantaneously, where it all began~in my youth. 

The negative self-talk that started at a young age and served as an initial “motivator” to walk a straight line, stay fit, be a good girl, and succumb to the idea that beauty is painful, hard and just plain work. That it was something you “strive for” rather than something that is God-given and emanates from within.

I know for certain, that I’m not alone in this experience. And like many of you, nobody ever actually told me those things or made me feel “less than”. It didn’t come from my immediate family or friends, but nevertheless- it surfaced from somewhere.

And it made me intensely focused on the FLAWS. My flaws. The ones on my face, on my body, well everywhere….ALL the time!

When we subscribe to this mentality, the flaw-focused pattern then becomes ingrained, as it certainly did for me, and it’s often set on “repeat” through the seasons of our life. It’s like our very own personal “negativity playlist” that can be conjured “on demand” or may creep up on you out of nowhere.

Think about it, how hard is it for us as women to take a genuine compliment sometimes (without countering it with something negative)? A friend says, “wow, that is a gorgeous color on you” and you may politely thank them just before you dive into how the bags under your eyes now have their own zip code on your face and your roots need desperate attention. Am I right? It’s sort of crazy.

Nowadays, this negative self-concept is amplified not only by the pressures that we more mature ladies experienced as we grew, but also by social media and the ever-present imagery of an unattainable “norm” for women of all ages. 

And it’s spilling over to our girls and seizing their self-concept at an even more rapid and alarming rate. Why oh why can’t we simply show up for OURSELVES each day as others see us… as we TRULY ARE? 

Why do we as women, of all ages and backgrounds, have such a hard time doing this? My friends, I PROMISE YOU, you are ALL so much more beautiful than you think.

YOU ARE.

Bottom line, we need to DO BETTER. Better at helping our girls build a strong foundation and an understanding of their INNER beauty. Better at helping them maintain a positive mindset and equipping them with coping strategies to buffer the negativity~both from within and outside of themselves. We must do better at shining a light and creating a heightened awareness around this issue and its pervasiveness.

It’s a pattern that starts early and is reinforced (both intentionally and inadvertently) across the settings and stages of our lives. We simply MUST DO SOMETHING to effect change. 

I happen to think it starts with our self-awareness because we are the ROLE MODELS in all of this.  And as we know all too well, these cycles tend to continue on and on…..they become pervasive, toxic patterns of behavior and they simply MUST STOP.

So….if we aren’t having conversations with ourselves, the women in our life, and certainly our daughters, we MUST make it a priority. TODAY.

It’s not comfortable….AT ALL. Welcoming the ugly truth, the flood of emotion that accompanies it, and the piercing personal vulnerability it unveils, never is; but, it’s so very NECESSARY.

We can no longer perpetuate the destructive dialogues we have with ourselves in the confines of our own minds and then pass them on to our daughters like some precious heirloom. 

Instead, we must get INTENTIONAL around glimpsing the beauty within ourselves, JUST AS OTHERS SEE US, and hold that image steadfast in our minds as we move through this world.

We must allow this shared vulnerability to help us build DEEPER CONNECTIONS with the women and girls in our lives that we hold most dear.

And ultimately, we must RISE to be the change-makers. So that some day soon, our girls can also BE THE ONES.

GRASP your inherent beauty my friends. And then bless others to do the same. 

It truly is EVERYTHING.

With Big Much Love,

Brandee

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