I’m sure my story is much like everyone else’s. There have been times in my life when I have felt awkward, clumsy, and unattractive. I was either “too ______” or “not ______ enough.” Insert whatever word into those blanks you can think of and I probably agonized over it. All of that fretting over feeling like I didn’t live up to societal standards of beauty became…exhausting. I just wanted to be happy. So instead of focusing on what was not, I focused on what was. When I work out, I think about being healthy and strong, not about having six pack abs. When I put on make up, it is to highlight my beauty, not to hide my flaws. Strangely enough, those things I originally considered unattractive became attractive. Sometimes, they were even my best attributes.

This picture was taken by my husband just days before I delivered our daughter, our firstborn, into this world that will one day judge her for her beauty. When I look at this picture, I see the crow’s feet that come from laughing. I see the freckles that come from enjoying the outdoors. I see the hairs that are out of place because I took the time to turn and look at my love instead of running for a hairbrush so I could look perfect in the picture. We tell our daughter every day that she is beautiful. I look forward to the day when we get to teach her that beauty is not about how you look, but about who you are. If she knows that beauty is found in how you treat people and how you give back, then we will have done our job well.
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