Embrace Your Unique Beauty

We all have our insecurities. Mine has always been... my nose. I've always known it was larger than some and smaller than others but it my mind's eye it is HUGE. Like if it got any bigger it would have its own atmosphere.

I used to day dream about the day I could get plastic surgery to "fix" my nose. I would be so much more beautiful, confident, and happy after that. Then, I had my first child. My view of that dream gradually changed. I first debated and then firmly decided that was definitely not the answer. What if one or all of my children inherited my nose? What would I be telling them? When they found out one day I had had plastic surgery to "fix" my nose I would be sending them the message that they needed to be fixed and that their nose wasn't beautiful. I couldn't possibly imagine not thinking they were beautiful. I also couldn't bear giving them any reason to think I didn't see them as beautiful. So, the dream to have plastic surgery soon faded and then I began the journey of not just acceptance but embrace.

(Please know that if you ever have had or will have the need for plastic surgery, cosmetic or corrective, I do not judge you or think it is bad. These are only my opinions for myself for this one situation).

A couple things helped me on my way to loving my unique beauty:

1. I am a child of God
2. My husband and children think I'm beautiful
3. I have my dad's nose. He is one of the most handsome men who have ever existed and is a wonderful father. I am proud to be his daughter, to look like him, and to have his nose.
4. We all want to look like someone else in some way. Even my 7 yr old daughter recently found out that the girl at church, who she so longingly wanted to look like, wanted to look like my daughter. I tried to use this as a teaching moment.
5. I started practicing gratitude and self loving thoughts.
6. I started telling myself and my daughter that no matter how pretty someone is, they will never be beautiful if they are not confident, happy, and beautiful on the inside. I figure, if I'm telling my daughter to believe that, I'd better believe and practice it too.
7. I've focused on increasing and developing my personality and abilities. My identity has strength and depth and I am not defined by my looks.
8. I took a picture of my profile one day, scared I'd what I would see. I was surprised! My profile looked a lot better than what I imagined. It even looked, I dare say, good.
9. I did a Google search of beautiful people with big noses. I was surprised at how normal their noses looked to me and what society might define as a big nose. But, then, I was also blown away by the pictures of people who had much larger noses than mine yet they were gorgeous people.

Perspective.

I still have insecurities, but it's a journey and a process, and a daily practice to be confident and to embrace your unique beauty.

Let's all embrace our own unique beauty and the thread that we are in the great beautiful quilt of life.

Teach your children to be confident and to live their beauty by example.

Here as some unedited, unfiltered pictures of me from lots of angles. I would have never wanted my nose to be shielded in so many angles before this journey began.

Here's to you and your beauty. You are beautiful. You are unique. You are You.