I had many, many titles for this post.
Backseat Therapist
Little Humans Hear All
Love Thyself as much as you love others
Why can we all just get along… with ourselves?
…and the list could go on and on.
So, this will be a two-part post because while I was thinking of what to write a second, amazing thing happened to me this morning and it deserves to be shared as well.
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We always hear that we should be saying body positive things to our children, mostly so they don’t grow up self-conscience about their bodies, but also so they can learn that body acceptance, of their own and other’s is equally important.
I’m so guilty of building up my daughter’s image of her body and self and tearing down my own in the very next breathe.
Such as:
Me: Hey Beautiful, I love your outfit today! You look really cute!
Jaizy: Thank you Mommy! You look really pretty, too!
Me: Oh, thanks, but I know you’re just being sweet. This is a really old shirt.
WTH? Why do we do that to ourselves. Not only that, but we are devaluing our children’s words!
Also:
(Scene: Driving down the street, a car looks like it’s going to pull in front of me)
Me: Oh my goodness! Don’t they know not to scare fat people!
Jaizy: Mommy, you’re not fat, you’re perfect.
Me, Oh, Aren’t you funny! I know that I’m fat, it’s ok!
Again, I just basically called her a liar. When in fact, I am perfect to her. She doesn’t know me any other way and she loves me just the way I am. And it’s not like me being fat is a secret. EVERYONE can see it!
Just last night:
(Scene: I was removing my makeup)
Jaizy: Mommy, you’re so pretty, you don’t even need makeup! I like you better without it!
Me: Thank you! But Mommy likes to wear makeup. It makes me feel better.
Almost… but not quite. Why do we have to justify it? And why would makeup make me feel better? I could have just left it at I like it. End of story.
So, my goal moving forward to to give value to her (and other’s) words to me. People probably aren’t lying to my face when they give me a compliment, right?
Basically, live what I say.
Ok, second:
While I was walking Jaizy to her classroom, the most amazing thing happened.
I came out to my car and started to leave because I had just enough time to get to work on time. I noticed a piece of white paper and thought nothing of it for a second. Then I took a closer look and saw it was an envelope, so I thought someone just dropped off a random note.
And then I looked closer.
It was an envelope and on the front it said: May God Bless You!
What on earth? I thought…
And while I was driving the .75 miles to work I opened the envelope and burst into tears because inside was cash.
Cash. Money. More than $20 less than $1000. (That’s all I’m going to say about that.)
But the timing… Perfect.
So while I’m figuring out how to accept compliments I will be thinking of how I can pay acts of kindness forward.