If I literally had
a penny for every-time someone said something to me or about me that brought my spirits down about how I look, what I wear, from my hair not being long, to my hair being extra short. To the moles on my body and my face, to my dark skinned tone, to not being skinny enough or being extremely too large. I would be a very rich woman. For the better part of my life, I’ve always been criticized for not looking like the average girl. I always wasn’t enough, no matter how much I tried to kill myself in the gym to lose weight, eat crazy to gain weight, bleach my skin, color my hair or take numerous amounts of supplements to make my hair grow long. And let’s not even speak of going in debt to make sure I dressed the part to look the part of whatever & for whoever….IT NEVER WAS ENOUGH!!
I always struggled with just being ME. Yes, I had the wonderful personality in which I always felt as if I had to parade around like I was in a circus to get people to notice. Growing up, my aunts would get jealous if they saw their boyfriends or someone they potentially liked; talking with me, in which I never understood why – they were the pretty ones, I was the one struggling to get noticed. What they didn’t understand is that I never wanted their guys, I was just delighted to have a guy talk with me without judging my appearance first. It took years upon top of years for me to become comfortable with looking at myself in the mirror, in which I avoided at all cost. I had been told I was UGLY so much until I believed it, it was so bad until I felt if I looked into a mirror it would surely shatter……I really did. I combed my hair by touch and feel. If it felt right, it must have looked right…
As I got older, I began to slowly take a good look in the mirror at myself. I mean a really good look and I noticed that I wasn’t bad looking at all. I had a beautiful smile and there were features about
t myself, such as my eyes and how they lit up when I smiled; almost in a flirtatious sense and my eyebrows – they were thin, but how easily they were to shape up and my hair, it wasn’t long but hey, many women are rocking short styles. Once I began to change my mindset about myself on the outside; my inside began to truly shine through as well. While my self-esteem and self-image were beginning to blossom, I took notice to something else about me that I didn’t particularly like and that was……MY NOSE!
I hated my nose, I loved my smile but I hated how my nose spread wide when I smiled – It looked like a big balloon had implanted itself right in the middle of my face. There was nothing that I could do to cover it up either. I literally felt like Rudolph, my nose wasn’t red but I felt his pain. Because I had now built up this new esteem about myself, I wasn’t going to let something as minor as my nose get the best of me but still found myself covering it up when I chatted or laughed with people. While it was a secret and I never told anyone about my nose dilemma….I felt like I was taken 50ft back when someone close to me, someone I loved – called me, mushroom nose. I suddenly felt like all the self-image issues that I had dealt with came rushing back at me – FULL FORCE!
What the individual didn’t know was that I had a complex about my nose. I had seriously thought about going to one of those plastic surgeon shows and having it fixed. It’s the main reason why I hate taking pictures today. While they laughed about it, I didn’t particularly think it was funny…..my mother had a wide nose and it’s the only thing I wish I had not inherited from her. They didn’t know how embarrassed my nose made me feel; they didn’t know the struggles I battled in my mind with accepting my mushroom nose and they caused that war to be re-lived in a matter of 2 seconds.
I felt like going into a corner and crying my eyes out – BUT I DIDN’T…
I had to go back to the mirror and take a good look at not only who I was but WHOM’S I was, the bible says that EVERYTHING, I MEAN EVERYTHING that God created was good and very good and that includes the creation of me and you (Genesis 1:31 & 1 Timothy 4:4). We’re all unique individuals; made, shaped and groomed into the image of our master creator. The enemy knows what it takes to get us down, make us stuck and he knows what tactics to throw our way to keep us buried. He desires to get us so down-trodden until we stay down, not having the strength to look up at the one who came to give us strength. Once he has you down, his intentions is to keep you down by constantly beating you over the back with regret, self-image, low self-esteem and uncomfortable issues that plague us daily.
You’re as handsome and pretty as you want to be, by keeping a mind of defeat you’re the one that’s keeping yourself in uncharted territory in which you were never meant to belong. I dare you today to embrace the GOOD LOOKING! person you are because God didn’t make junk nor trash when he made you. If you have something about yourself that you don’t like – figure out what it is and change it (please nothing crazy or silly like getting ridiculous surgery to obtain a bigger butt, boobs, pecks or flatter abs) you can get butt pads, padded bras and you can work on those abs and/or pecks at the gym or in the comfort of your own home.
Just don’t let anyone define who you are. I’m here to tell you that you are beautiful, I’m here to let you know that you are handsome. If this girl with the mushroom nose can change her mind about how she views herself, then SO CAN YOU!
I Love My #MushroomNose! – Thank you Mama!
IT’S NOT WHAT YOU’RE CALLED – BUT WHAT YOU CHOOSE TO ANSWER TOO!
THE ONLY THING YOU SHOULD ANSWER TOO IS GREATNESS! BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT YOU ARE!!!! YOU WERE CREATED TO BE…
#Greater than your Enemies
#Greater than your Past
#Greater than your Hurt
#Greater than your Pain
#Greater than what your Think of Yourself
Remember, Jesus nailed all of your hurt, pain, habits and hang-ups on the cross a long time ago, so you have no excuse to not live and be Great!
What’s a Flaw that you have about yourself, that you now Embrace! Share Below by stating “I Love My #_______ with a hashtag of what you love about yourself.
Roshonda N. Blackmon – Creator of JustsumInspiration, Author, Speaker & Encourager
Let’s Live Well, Laugh Loud & Love Hard!
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I loved this post. You truly conquered a battle and that’s not easy to do.
I know you been through alot with the name calling and that’s okay because there is always at least one person that you will like you for who you are. That one person is more powerful then those other assholes calling you names. God is with you every step of the way.
Your a good hearted person with many talents to be the best version of yourself
Btw I never heard of a butt pad?
Always remember this, always somebody that have it worst
Always somebody that wish they were in your shoes.
Hell always somebody that have it worst than you, but yet still loving life
always somebody that has everything good and have it better than most people but yet so miserable and complain about everything.
Another words, our thoughts defines life and success.
The sound of my voice is a flaw. I don’t like the sound of my voice and I wish I was taller but it doesn’t get too much. My flaws are mostly mental and I’m trying to overcoming that.
A flaw that I overcame was holding grudges. I overcame that. I learned holding grudges will make you bitter and vulnerable.
Holding a grudge can turn into hate.
Instead of holding grudges I write on paper when something bothers me.
This was a lovely post!🙂🙂🙂☺ and be proud of who you are.
We are all made in God’s image
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Hey Understand546, you definitely hit the hammer on the nail as you totally do “understand” the self-acceptance, esteem struggle. I appreciate your words of encouragement, they mean sooooooo much to me. I’m also very, very proud of you for overcoming your flaw of holding grudges – now that’s a powerful flaw to overcome and I’m so glad you realized that, that characteristic did not look good on you and happy that God allowed you to find another avenue to deal with and better handle that situation. Yesssss, so you never heard of a butt pad before…well, I sure wanted one…lol. Thanks for reading the post and for commenting, I also love to hear what you have to say. (((hugs)))) =)
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https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.jsIt’s always a pleasure of reading your content. You work hard on it so you deserve feedback
Yeah it’s not always easier because is more additive than forgiveness but revenge don’t always have a good outcome, but forgiveness does.
I have to lol up a butt pad lol because i didn’t know they made those. You overcame a lot because words do have the power to destroy you but words also have the power to build you up if coming from the right tongue.
We always going to be hurt by someone’s words because in our minds(this is for the good people) most of us believe in karma so we do good and sometimes we think we can receive the spirit of good right away, but no usually doing good deeds will get your hurt when you least expect it and it take time before you see the bright day.
The best thing we can do is pray so that we can find the light
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So true. Yes, look it up and let me know what you think…lol
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I took a look wow.
So I guess it’s suppose enhance your body a little bit lol.
I heard squats is suppose to help with that area as well
Looks uncomfortable tho
Online it looks like a few people had bad experiences with the pads
Thanks for teaching me something new because I didn’t know that
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Lol, of course. Yes, that’s what it’s supposed to do. Oh and squats are what I took to doing, I’d rather look natural…lol – Hey, Anytime =)
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Hey Roshonda….. I’m from Botswana… ♥♥… I’m a Christian… I’m a guy (18yrs old) …
First of all I would Love to acknowledge your’s transparency and your glimpse of personality(really ‘laid-back’ 🙏 ) – this is my first time on your website.
Wow.. this hit home indeed… you talked to me -at least that’s the essence of what it feels like , God bless you ‘shonda’
To get to the point…. I also was (and so often tend to) battling with negative self image And all that’s related to it evenm when I press towards the mark in Christ Jesus.
*Still* *Not* *Clear* ..? OK…… The nose issue, yup i feel you…. with the bulging out when i talk and what not..-thats the cheap-shot the devil tries to thouw oftentimes)…. to add on it sister… worse did I feel when i looked on the scars(flaws) on it…- in reality they weren’t quite visible(often times not at all – talk less about on pictures) but as the devil would have made wanted it…they were still there….-pathetic don’t you think…(on this very note it could go on and on)
So how do i battle with it… just as you mentioned … the ‘look on the mirror’ technique and and scrutinize and utter positive words -but really that’s only on the surface. It demands taking it up a notch and get a hold on what the Word states about me…. and so i run to *Psalms* *139* : *14* and the like(as you’ve summed up a little, – i should note them down really😉). AND SO THE BATTLE GOES ON .. BUT ME AND THE “ID” in Christ always get the victory -excuse the cheesyness of all this but it’s like tonic i tell you…In His name 😉)…Encore God Bless lady…God Bless…
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sorry for the errors(punctuation and grammar)
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It’s okay about the punctuation, I can’t tell you how many mistakes I’ve made. I have to constantly check myself…lol
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Hi, Lekgotla K.M Tshweneyagae. Give Botswana my Love. From this day forward, I want you to adopt the attitude that it doesn’t matter what anyone says or thinks about me. The only person you should be concerned about is what God thinks and according to Psalms 139:14, he says you were fearfully and wonderfully made…so, now that you got that down the next person that matters is what you think about yourself. You’re very young and the enemy desires nothing more than to destroy you, so he won’t stop antagonizing you, until you’re defeated and he’s the winner…but, the devil is a liar. God didn’t create us to be defeated, he created us to be winners and we are, in him. Greater is he that’s “within you” than he that’s within the world. That statement alone makes us WINNERS!
Begin to take the focus off of what you don’t like about yourself and focus on the attributes that you do love about yourself, shift your focus because the enemy wants nothing more than to keep us burdened down by our hurts, habits and hang-ups…..kick the devil in the head (because he’s under your feet, let’s not forget his rightful place, below us; not above us) and determine to love yourself. Remember, God loves you – always had, always will. He loved you so much, he sacrificed his sons life to save yours…you’re just that special to him. Another thing to remember is…you were made in his image, so how awesome is that, to have a characteristic of the Father, it’s an honor, an honor that you should cherish, embrace and walk in proudly.
Whenever you feel the enemy about to jump on your back about self-image or low self esteem. If you would turn that over to God, turn your weakness over to him and he’ll give you his ever powerful, enduring strength to make it through whatever it is that’s burdening you down. He’s done it for me and I know he’ll do the same for you.
I love you my friend, stay strong and I appreciate you for reading and responding.
Blessings, Love
#BotswanaLove #You’reStrong
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Thanks Lady…such warm words – a dose of Tonic-divine… I’m praying for you ♥… Please carry on with what you do… I’m off to college in no time God willing & this place may make a nice sanctuary to regroup myself in Christ…
God Bless… I’m praying for you .
(P.S …. sorry for the late reply)
GOD Bless America ♥
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No worries about the late reply, I understand fully. Oh My, you’re off to college…I will definitely be praying for you love. And please, keep this page in mind on your college journey. I know how hard college and the pressures of it can be, so if you need encouragement please contact me at justsuminspiration@gmail.com and we’ll chat. God bless you sweetie, You’re in my heart and prayers.
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This is a beautiful article. You’ve made an amazing achievement ~ to love yourself for who you are ~ which is particularly difficult in today’s selfie society. You ARE GREAT! And your confidence and self-awareness is what will truly shine, making you even more beautiful to those around you 🙂
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Aww! Thank you so much @BubblesBodywear, I really appreciate your comforting words and for taking out time to read this blog post. We should all embrace our uniqueness, especially our little girls and guys whom unfortunately look to the T.V. to get appearance approval. You really made my day and thanks again for reading. xoxo
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