Do you love yourself?

Good Morning everyone. This morning I woke up and thought about how far I've come with my self esteem. Not too long ago, if I walked past a mirror, I didn't want to look at it because I would be disgusted. I found that I was constantly comparing and sizing myself up against other women.

As a little girl, I always wanted to look like someone else. I wanted to look like a little princess, but every time I had my picture taken, they said, "look at the camera and smile freckleface." Constantly being compared to Pippi Longstocking started to get old pretty fast. So as a child my discomfort and failure to see the true beauty within me began.

The journey to become someone else other than myself was long and tiring. This feeling about myself was reflected in any relationship I was in with a man. So I don't need to tell anyone that they didn't last. One of the greatest lessons I've learned through writing this book was that I will never be able to love anyone until I love myself. There are three things that needs to be recognized if we are to be truly happy with ourselves. 1) I know who I am. 2) I know who I can be. 3) I know who I will never be.

Knowing who I am has brought me a new freedom. I may be a few pounds overweight. I may look a little older than I'd like, but I am me. And I am surrounded by people who love me. When they look at me, they don't cringe, so why would I do that to myself.

Today I would like you to look in the mirror and say out loud, "I am beautiful." Do it every day for 90 days. You will find that after a few days, you will begin to giggle after you say it and feel good. Make it a habit of liking yourself and eventually you will love yourself.

When we declare our intentions to the world, we put those words out into the
universe. They become real. We hear them and process them.
Eventually we believe them. When that happens, we have raised ourselves up
a notch on the ladder of life.

Excerpt from "What A Difference A Day Makes: A Survival Guide for Women.