Hey guys!
Sorry for my absence, I had a really stressful couple of months at work. As we are approaching, everything has finally calmed down and I look forward to blog more. Watch out for a blog on how to handle stress in the near future. But for now, I hope you will enjoy this post. :)
I have recently noticed, that many young girls and women are envying how other people look like. Especially due to the boom within the beauty and fashion industry, young women/girls are desperately are trying to look like celebrities or women they follow on social media platforms.
I recently, came across a comment, where a girl was obsessing over another girl’s beauty and wished to look like her.
This saddens me, as many girls nowadays think the same way as she did. Most females want to look like somebody else, because in their eyes, they are not as beautiful as the popular girls on Instagram. I will be honest with you - I was one of those girls. I always found other females more beautiful then me and I always wanted to look like them. I always envied their bodies, their skin and hair, because in my opinion they were perfect. I never believed anyone who told me that I was beautiful.
It took me a while to realise, that I was as beautiful as the girls I tried to look like. I overcame this by being confident in my own skin. All you need is to have a healthy body image. Once you feel confident in your own skin i.e. your body, your personality, you will see the beauty within you, just as other people see it. We need to be confident in our own skin and stop envying how other people look. As I mentioned in my previous post - whatever God’s creates is beautiful.
'For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well'. Psalm 138:13-14 NIV
Also remember, beauty comes from within – beauty is not just defined by your outward appearance. You can wear the fanciest clothes and make up, but this all goes to waste, if you don’t feel as beautiful inside. It’s how you feel about yourself that matters.
1 Peter 3:3-4 'Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight'.
The verse confirms it. It is the inner beauty that matters and that’s what matters to God. This also should matter to us. Stop comparing yourself and find confidence in yourself. Be YOU!
Prayer point:
Lord help me to stop comparing myself and trying to look like someone else. I know that I am beautiful, because your Word says so.
Sunday, 22 November 2015
Monday, 21 September 2015
From Self-Hate to Self-Love
I struggled with self-confidence from a very young age, which was partially due to me being bullied in primary school up until the beginning of secondary school. Haven grown up in Germany and being the only black person in my entire school, together with the bullying made me insecure about my skin complexion. So at one point, I even tried to bleach myself (it didn’t really work though lol).
Throughout my secondary school time I continued to struggle with my confidence. Unfortunately, it got worst when I started having crushes on boys, who never liked me in return. I always thought, that if I found a boy that also liked me, I would feel more confident about myself. Well to my surprise, I was wrong about that, as the guys never liked me for who I truly was. Since dating didn't work, I came up with the idea, that maybe loosing weight would finally help me to love myself.
Lo and behold, after loosing weight everyone around me wouldn't stop complimenting me on how good I looked, this made me feel beautiful for the first time. However, this didn't last for very long, as I got into a relationship with a guy who constantly put me down. He would never compliment me, but rather complimented my friends in front of me. He always complained about my complexion and figure and he would always compare me to his ex-girlfriends. Before I knew it, I felt even worst about myself, then I did in my younger years.
My low self-esteem even affected my friendships, as I even started comparing myself to my friends and would always complain to them about what I didn't like about myself. One of my friends told me that she never enjoyed going shopping with me, because I would always get grumpy, whenever I felt that certain clothes looked better on her. Ironically, around that time I was heavily into reality TV shows (which didn't exactly help), where celebrities flaunted their perfectly toned hourglass bodies in every scene. So I never thought that, I measured up to society's idea of beauty. My insecurities held me back in every aspect of my life, as I always worried about what people thought of me and never wanted to draw any attention to myself. I never wanted to breakout of my shell. I finally I had enough, in my final of University, I came to the realisation, that was looking for love and acceptance in all the wrong places. That's where I turned to God.
Lo and behold, after loosing weight everyone around me wouldn't stop complimenting me on how good I looked, this made me feel beautiful for the first time. However, this didn't last for very long, as I got into a relationship with a guy who constantly put me down. He would never compliment me, but rather complimented my friends in front of me. He always complained about my complexion and figure and he would always compare me to his ex-girlfriends. Before I knew it, I felt even worst about myself, then I did in my younger years.
My low self-esteem even affected my friendships, as I even started comparing myself to my friends and would always complain to them about what I didn't like about myself. One of my friends told me that she never enjoyed going shopping with me, because I would always get grumpy, whenever I felt that certain clothes looked better on her. Ironically, around that time I was heavily into reality TV shows (which didn't exactly help), where celebrities flaunted their perfectly toned hourglass bodies in every scene. So I never thought that, I measured up to society's idea of beauty. My insecurities held me back in every aspect of my life, as I always worried about what people thought of me and never wanted to draw any attention to myself. I never wanted to breakout of my shell. I finally I had enough, in my final of University, I came to the realisation, that was looking for love and acceptance in all the wrong places. That's where I turned to God.
The closer I became to God the more I realised my self-worth. I stopped worrying about what people thought of me. Few years ago, I would have never imagined to have my own blog, thanks to Christ I have come out of my shell and I am ready to concur the World. As it says in 1 Samuel 16:7(NIV) ‘But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”.’ We should not focus too much on what people think of us. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. We should care about what God thinks of us, not man. God didn’t create us to worry about how we look and as a result go into depression. That’s not the life He chose for us. Start concentrating on yourself and your relationship with God. He will get you through this situation-He did it for me. Whatever God creates is BEAUTIFUL.
Prayer point: Lord help me to overcome low self-esteem. Help me to love myself, help me to see what YOU see in me. For I know that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
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