Me Too

My husband and I drove to Colorado this weekend to go visit family. Like any good road trip we were jamming out to some good music. 

The song Me Too by Meghan Trainor came on. I know you know it, 

"If I was you, I would want to be me too.

 I'd want to be me too.

 I'd want to be me... too."

Not only is it super catchy but I can't help but feel really good about myself when I'm singing it. Not just because of my awesome car dance moves.

On Spotify they have this sweet feature where you can read the Behind the Lyrics while the song is playing. I wanted to share some of those from this song that I read,

"Growing up in Nantucket, MA Trainor wasn't always comfortable with her figure. 'Every day I wore sweatshirts and sweatpants to cover up my body 'cause I was so insecure. I would go on vacation, and be in Trinidad and Tobago 90-degree weather, and I'd be in sweatshirts that said 'Nantucket'.'"

Can we all say RELATABLE?!

When I was in High School I got really bad acne on my back. My back people... of course every teenager gets acne on their face (which I was sooo not exempt of) but on your back?! That is not even fair for a poor growing teenager. I was incredibly embarrassed by it. I wore collared shirts and t-shirts over my swim suits. I never wanted to cut my hair short because my long hair was what I used to cover my acne. I wish I could say it didn't affect my choices but it TOTALLY did! I always wanted to learn to dance but didn't want to take dance class because I knew the costumes would show my back. Those were the same reasons I didn't audition for musicals or try out for sports.

I let this insecurity CONTROL MY LIFE!

Now back to Meghan Trainor, "Just recently I was thinking, "I'm confident now, and I look good."

So what changed??

Take note of this, I love this.

"That's because I've started saying those words out loud more."

Okay hold up...

So the answer wasn't because she lost a bunch of weight and now looks like the girls in the magazine. 

It had nothing to do with surgery or some magical food she ate that made her feel differently about herself.

What changed was how she thought about herself.

She goes on to say, "I was signing autographs and this girl came up to me bawling and said, 'You make me feel pretty again. Thank you.' It really resonated with me that this girl was so gorgeous, and she didn't even know it. It's a mental thing."

Isn't it interesting that so many women and girls feel insecure about their body's or aren't confident with who they are? I'm always shocked to see girls that I think are flawless and learn that they have insecurities and things they hate about themselves. I think this goes to show it really has nothing to do about how we physically look. It has everything to do with how we THINK and FEEL about ourselves.

Walk through this with me:

I stand in the mirror. My eyes scan over my body and I notice my flaws. -sigh- my thighs are still thick and flabby. My stomach pooch is poking through my t-shirt. I have razor burn marks under my armpits. My eyes meet my own eyes and I look disappointedly at all the flaws on my face that are gonna be hard to cover up today. My imperfect lumpy nose. My one eyebrow that's higher than the other. Oh, and there's that giant red pimple on my forehead that isn't quite ready to pop. I'll have to be checking that all day to make sure it doesn't turn into a whitehead when I'm talking to someone. Oh and my hair is still limp across my face. That'll take a lot of product to get that looking better. -long deep sigh-

"I guess this is as good as it's gonna get."

How do you think I'm going to feel about myself that day? Doesn't matter how much makeup I put on, how I style my hair, or what I wear to cover up my insecurities. Because bottom line is: I am conscious of these insecurities since the moment I reviewed myself in the mirror and they will be on my mind the rest of the day. 

Now let's do this again:

I stand and look at myself in the mirror and smile. My eyes meet my own and I think how my eyes are my favorite feature about myself. Not only do I love the color of my eyes but I love that I can see my emotions and see that I am happy this morning. I look at my messy bed hair and get excited that I get to style it today. I keep smiling as I look over myself. Instead of paying attention to the areas I want to change I feel grateful for what I do have. I'm grateful for my legs for walking today. I'm grateful for my heart and lungs working hard without even thinking about it. I'm grateful for my arms and hands for being able to help me with the most basic tasks. I smile and nod at my reflection and think, dang, I look good. I am awesome! And then I moonwalk out the bathroom door.

Just writing this makes me more excited to get ready for the day!  Now whether I get all dressed up or not, I feel good about myself! And the best part is that when I do feel good about myself I act better and I treat myself better.

By simply changing my thoughts about myself causes a ripple effect throughout the rest of my day. And I see a lot of smiling, dancing, and confidence in those days. 

So in the words of Meghan Trainor,

"I thank God every day that I woke up feeling this way. And I can't help lovin' myself."