I have a question for you.

Do you love yourself? Like really love yourself? All of yourself?I know, it’s a weird question and you probably responded with “Yes, of course I do.” Right?

I know I did. At first.

Until I read this:

from facebook

Honestly, there are aspects of ‘me’ that I love, but I want to love all of me, you know? I want to love my strong muscular calves and large thighs. I want to adore the belly that sheltered three beautiful babies and honor the stretch marks that came from them. My arms, size of my hips, the sun spots on my face – they shouldn’t matter.

How I look has nothing to do with ‘who’ I am.

Who I am is what I want people to love. That’s what should matter. That’s the ‘me’ that I want to love.

If I can look beyond the physical attributes that society deems unacceptable and instead consider my heart, my character, my personality – then yes, I love myself.

I’m not perfect. I’ll be the first one to admit that.

I can be rude and selfish and focus only on me. I can be unforgiving and harsh. But I can also be kind and loving and generous and supportive and … awesome. I can be and am awesome. I’m a strong person who knows what she wants and goes after it. I love with all my heart and want to see everyone around me succeed at everything they do.

Why am I writing this?

Because I don’t think I’m the only one who struggles with self-love and if I can encourage you to realize you are more than your body, more than just your looks…then let me encourage you.

YOU are amazing! You are strong and courageous. You’ve gone through so much in your life and you’ve survived, you are a survivor. There is no one like you in the world, no one who loves as much as you do, no one who goes further than you do, no one who can touch hearts as much as you do.

You deserve to be loved for who you are. You deserve nothing less.