Tread Lightly

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Most of the time the beholder is yourself.  Be gentle with yourself. There is only one of you. AND I can 100% guarantee there are PLENTY of people who love you just as you are.
Normally, I don't take a ton of time in the mirror to check out what's going on with this skin suit. I usually try to avoid looking at my love handles and B.O.B (belly over belt). No thank you.
 I've squished out one beautiful child and as most other moms probably understand, my body hasn't been the same since.

I took a little bit longer looking in the mirror this last week. I noticed stretch marks I never knew I had! Initially it was a bummer. Big Time! Then, I thought about where those stretch marks came from. They came from weight gain. Weight gain that came from making a human being. I made a human being!
I have other stretch marks that aren't from pregnancy. I have stretch marks from good times had over delicious food. Stretch marks from ice cream showered with tears.Late night nachos. College. Marriage. Life. All things that have made me- me. Me is something today; I wouldn't trade for anything (let's be honest, if we are talking multi-millions I would reconsider;) Just kidding). All the ups and down in life and in my weight, have made me the woman and mother I am today. While I am nowhere near perfect, my son and husband think I am. They love me JUST the way I am. They love my stretch marks beauty marks. They love these chesticles that hang a little more south than they use to. They even love my cellulite. They don't notice when I gain a few lbs and don't notice when I am not wearing make-up. They never look at me and think all those horrible things I think about myself. How dare I think that about the person they love so much!?
I don't do everything perfectly as a mother. I lack in a lot of areas but my kid is happy. He is assertive, silly, smart, and an amazing example of pure love. I can't find words expressive enough to tell you how loved this kid is.
The same goes with being a wife. I am needy. I can be lazy. I can be a royal pain in the tushy (thanks for hanging in there honey). I work on it daily. The husby loves me. I love him. He thinks I am beautiful.  We complete each other.

As a woman I am heavily influenced by media and what is considered thin and sexy. It turns me into my harshest critic. :(  I have spent countless hours worrying about how I look, how much I weigh, what others think of how I look.
I have decided to try to look at stretch marks and cellulite dimples as beauty marks. They are the marks of my beautiful life. My life hasn't and isn't always easy but it's mine. No one can change that.
I won't always successfully look at these remnants of life and think oh, how pretty. BUT I will TRY.

I am also going to TRY to not let that affect how I feel about myself and my body. Those skinny little nuggets I see on magazine covers don't have my life, don't have my experiences and don't have my amazing child.

Be kind to yourself. Be kind to yourself out loud. Be kind to yourself in your head. It is going to take training... for me too. I have had a lot of practice not being kind to myself . It is going to take effort. It's going to take truly believing these marks are beautiful.

All right here it is. Be gentle. A picture of my recently discovered beauty marks. Oh hi love handle... hope you don't mind being naked in public.