You Deserve to Live Life

The other day as I was walking, I noticed that the wind was blowing my hair back away from my face. My gut reaction was to grab the long dark strands and pull them to the front again, because, "what if my face looks round?" I stopped myself for a moment, and appreciated how great it felt to have my hair blowing back with the wind coursing through it.

I let the wind keep blowing my hair, and I remembered when I was little and we lived in an exceptionally windy town. On mornings where the wind was the strongest, I would go outside and jump high on the trampoline, and allow the wind to whip my hair in every which direction. Wind made me feel wild and alive.

How many years have I been subduing this because I'm worried my face will look fat when I'm not hiding behind my hair?

How often do we keep ourselves from doing something or enjoying something because we are worried about how we look, or how we will be perceived by others? Not swimming because we feel self conscious in a swimsuit, not hiking or running or going to the gym because we don't look "hot" when we exercise, not going a day or two without makeup because we fear to look frumpy, never letting people take our picture because it might be unflattering, not dancing because we feel we aren't good at it, or we are worried about what might jiggle while we do so . . . this is a very limited list, but the fact that so many things came to my mind immediately tells me that, for a lot of my life, I've been holding myself back from living my own life because of the fear of how I think I will be perceived by others.

For years, I didn't like to go hiking because of my confidence issues. 

We deserve so much better than this! We deserve to run, jump, dance, play, wear what we want, and basically live how we want, without constant stress about what we will look like. I ran across this blog from a woman who's son took her picture without her knowledge at the beach. It is a beautiful example of how much harder we are on ourselves than we need to be. Let's enjoy life! We are so much more than what we look like.

Last semester at school in Hawaii, I ditched my swim shorts I had always worn while swimming, for just a swimsuit bottom. Know what? I like to feel the sun on my thighs. If anyone has a problem with my legs, they don't have to look at me. I'm not there for them, anyway. We don't exist for the viewing pleasure of other people.

My challenge for you this week is to do something that you love to do but haven't done for awhile, regardless of what you think other people might think of you. Lap swimming at the local pool, going to a yoga class, jumping on the trampoline, cutting your hair short if you want to, going to the store without makeup . . .  there are tons of possibilities. If you take this challenge, post what you did in the comments! You are beautiful and vibrant, and should never let your fear of other people's perceptions of you keep you from living your life.