allow yourself imperfections

April of Acceptance Daily Idea: allow yourself imperfections 

"You are imperfect, you are wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging." - Brené Brown

We are always going to have struggles. We are always going to be challenged. It's what we believe about ourselves that affects how we respond to the hard things in life. Our inner voices that tells us our worth. That tell us whether or not we belong. Whether or not we are deserving. Those voices are the ones who decide how we will feel about ourselves during the hard times. 

If we tell ourselves that we are unworthy, or that we can't handle it, or that we don't deserve care from ourselves or others, then we won't be able to handle it. 

If we tell ourselves that this is hard, that we have gone through hard stuff before and lived, that we are all imperfectly perfect, then surviving our tribulations becomes possible. 

That doesn't mean we can't cocoon for a few days, or cry, or yell, or throw tantrums! It means we can pick ourselves back up. 

"Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance." - Brené Brown

I always struggled to feel like I belonged. And I never understood why. Now I think it is because I was so unaccepting of my imperfections, that I was presenting a false self to the world. So people liked me because of who I pretended to be. That didn't ever feel like real friendship. 

Now, I am who I am, take me or leave me. I surround myself with people who know my imperfections. Notice I have not called them "flaws"? A flaw is something negative. Like a table with a wobbly leg. People aren't flawed. People are imperfectly perfect. We all have our things. And my people know my things and still love me, still want to be my friends. Not despite my imperfections, but because of them. Because it is what makes me who I am. 

"Imperfections are not inadequacies; they are reminders that we're all in this together." - Brené Brown

Be kind,

To yourself too

xo

***NOTE: "acceptance" in the context of my writing is about the belief that all living things are entitled to respect, regardless of their actions and beliefs. "Acceptance" in this context is NOT about being silent, ignoring injustices and self and others, or expecting that we can say something is okay when it isn't. In this context I am referring to the idea that we cannot control what happens around us, we can only control how to respond to those things. 

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