Embrace Your Beauty

I met a woman whom I immediately connected with as a kindred spirit, which actually happens to me more often than I feel like it should to any one person; but I just say, "Thank you, God" and embrace all these blessings. We met at an after party through friends and had technically "worked" together a few times before, though we had never met. Tinseltown is a small town, and once you get past all the shiny tinsel, when you find good people who are just as hardworking, and care as much about what they do as you do, you hold on to those people.

So Dawn, the kindred spirit I met the other night, immediately became like a big sister to me. First, we bonded over our love of tea, then our Nashville days, and then everything else we love in life. I was so inspired and encouraged by her energy and genuine vibe, that I walked home with a chipper bounce in my step--literally. I think I practically skipped home.

One of the things she said to me really stuck with me, which was to embrace my beauty. She said that she wished she had embraced and appreciated her own beauty more than she had when she was younger. The reason this stuck with me was, because, particularly in this town, some of us can be so hard on ourselves if we don't meet Hollywood's current "ideal" beauty standards. We feel inadequate. Even when we tell ourselves "my body is imperfect, but I love it," that's telling ourselves that we're not meeting a certain standard. But who set that standard and who says that standard is even valid?

However, if we love ourselves and embrace the beauty we are today, we can look back and remember the beauty we were. If we always limit ourselves to the limitations someone else set, we'll only be able to look back and see those limitations. Or we'll look back and wish we were kinder to ourselves and realize those limitations were silly, because we as we are is something to always embrace. How can I say I love life if I don't love myself? How can I celebrate life if I don't embrace what God has graced me with--in every aspect.

I think about 10 years from now, and wanting to be able to look back and smile. I want to remember how much I embraced my own worth and how much I celebrated life. What I don't want is to look back and think about how uncomfortable in my own skin I was, or that I limited myself because I let boundaries exist.

So, however old you are, embrace your own beauty, because life deserves to be celebrated and lived incredibly.

BIG LOVE & HUGS

Love,

Justine