I have thrown away years of my youth being consumed by negative body image. I believed that being beautiful meant being perfect. I convinced myself that in order to be beautiful, I had to fit into a certain mold. This mold was created by the outside world, culture and media and was so unattainable. The more I tried to fit in by abusing myself with diet and exercise, the more I would see myself as ugly which only further hurt my body image.

It took a lot of growing up and digging deep to realize that there is no such thing as perfect. Beauty  comes in many different shape, sizes and forms. Being beautiful comes from confidence within and being able to wear your skin proudly. Being yourself with out any regrets is beautiful.

I am beautiful because I love this world. I am beautiful because I listen to my body and mind. I am beautiful be cause I am a daughter, sister, girlfriend and friend. I am beautiful because I speak my mind and hold nothing back. I am beautiful because I make people laugh. I am beautiful because I am alive.

While the majority of my wrinkles and lines are yet to come, I am in full agreement that having an honest, self-determined reality of personal beauty is the only way to live.  Every time in my life that I have let another person or an event or a number on the scale determine my beauty I can feel every aspect of my personality dimming, and I lose who I am.  I think acknowledging one’s self beauty is a daily task, but one totally worthwhile.

I am beautiful because of my smile and my playful soul that radiates from me.  I am beautiful because I am one giant mess of goofy, emotional, intelligent, driven, sensitive, caring and strong.  In learning to enjoy the small moments in surrounding myself with friends, family, and even myself, I am beautiful.  Once you love yourself others cannot help but love you as well, and those who still don’t obviously can’t see what they are missing.

I am beautiful because God created me, knitted me together in my mother’s womb and He calls me His beloved.  I make it my goal to define beauty by Gods standard, not the worlds.  My skin is beautiful, it reminds me of my heritage.  My grandfather was 100% Greek and because of him I get a great tan during the summer which I think is why I have a pretty good complexion.  I have always had very muscular legs, I use to struggle w/ that, but now I am proud of the strength they give me so I can chase around my 4 kiddos.  My curves have always been fun, I have had various stages of curves in my life….high and tight in high school, freshman 15 in college, newlywed glow, four pregnancy’s (hard to beat those curves), and now the current stage, which is trying to remain healthy and active curves for my busy family.  Through the years my body has seen many changes, but through it all I have always felt beautiful and  blessed to be unconditionally loved by my Heavenly Father and husband.  No matter how I feel or what the scale says I know I am loved and beautiful.

It took me years to figure out that feeling beautiful had nothing to do with make-up, hair, an ideal body type or looking like anyone else but myself.  Jealousy, greed, selfishness, ignorance and vanity are not beautiful.  Self-respect, kindness, generosity and love is. The most beautiful people aren’t supermodels; they’re mothers, sisters, brothers, husbands, wives, and friends.  I am beautiful because I am a mix of my mother and father.  Because I have my dad’s sense of humor and my mother’s determination.  I am beautiful because I put my family before anything.  Because I am in love, I follow my dreams, I listen to my heart and I admit it when I’m wrong.  I’m beautiful because I am imperfect, because I am true to myself and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I didn’t really understand what “beautiful” was until I brought two baby girls into this world.  As I look at Lulu’s dimply thighs, Gigi’s mole above her right eye and their soft, round bellies, it breaks my heart to think that they would ever look at these physical characteristics and think they were anything but beautiful, let alone to loathe those things about themselves, as I did.  The love that my daughters ooze with every smile, every laugh and every joyful moment of their lives transcends the physical.  And when people say my girls look like me, I look at those thighs, moles, bellies and smiles and proudly say, “I know.”  They are simply beautiful.

I am a devoted wife, and caring friend-  I will go the extra mile.  I love my family with a never ending fire…I will defend and protect them above all else.

Every spot, line and wrinkle is from a passion or a lesson that I wouldn’t trade for the world-  It is who I am…Full of laughter and sarcasm angry and happy;

In the past (not so recent past, I  might add) it would have been extremely difficult to give an answer for what I think is beautiful about me.  However, now that I’m walking with Jesus and believing what the bible says, it’s an easy to answer to give.  You see, I’ve had  a recent shift in perspective.  I now view all of God’s creation as exquisite!  And since I believe that humans are God’s favorite creation – so much so that He made us in His own glorious image – it’s easy to see that I am, in fact, beautiful.  As far as physical attributes about myself, I would have to say that I love my legs.  God gave me long, strong legs.  Now I can clearly see that He gave them to me to be able to chase after and keep up with my two precious sons that are ALL over the place!!

“Beauty” to me means not being ashamed of who you are on the inside.  It means embracing who you are – who God made you to be – all the good, bad, and ugly.   It means being beautifully broken to pieces, striving  to love yourself like Christ does, so that you can be made whole and become comfortable in the glorious creation He made you to be.  Sure, physical appearance can be beautiful to look at, but true beauty absolutely, unequivocally starts on the inside and works its way out in my opinion.

My name is Heather, and after 14 years of disordered eating and hating what I looked like, I have found freedom in the fact that I AM BEAUTIFUL exactly how I am!  You see, I used to think that I needed to be a certain weight, a certain size, have perfectly straight teeth, or bigger brighter eyes.  I ran my life by the number of pounds I weighed or the size of the jeans I wore, and never once did I realize that I was perfectly beautiful exactly how I was.

Beauty to me now is found not in the numbers that I associate with my body, but by the life that is within me.  I have beautiful blue eyes that, although I’m practically blind without my contacts, I use to see the beauty that surrounds me.  I have a crooked nose that identifies me as my mother’s daughter since her nose is crooked too!  I have crazy curly blond hair that I fought for the longest time, but now embrace as a part of who I am because it signifies my father in me.

I am a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, and a mother to my two fur-babies.  I am a lover, a fighter, a scholar, an athlete, a writer, a baker, a cook, and a future mother to future human babies.  And most importantly, I am a woman of God, and I am no longer defined by numbers, but by the beauty of my soul.