[Originally a Facebook post shared on May 30, 2018]
🤭 “Are you a police?”
😶 “Did you undergo chemo?”
🤪 “Did you recently experience a break-up”
🤐 “Please don’t shave your hair anymore. It doesn’t look good on you.”
😂 “WOAH!” (And then I see them taking a double look at the corner of my eye. Lol.)
😅 “Boss…Ay Ma’am…Sorry po…”
🤔 “What do other people say about your hairstyle?”
😊 “I’ve always wanted to shave my hair too. I wish I have the guts and courage like you do.”
😇 “You’re such an inspiration! I admire your confidence.”
😎 “You go girl!!! You’re so fierce and confident and beautiful!!!”
💇♀️ The first 7 statements are what I usually hear whenever I get my haircut and when they see my hairdo for the first time (or the second, the third, the fourth…you get the drift).
If I have such a low self-esteem and self-worth, I would have crumbled each time I hear these statements. 🤦♀️
💪Thank God I have built my muscles of self-belief. I can acknowledge any feedback, receive them with grace, and then let go of what doesn’t serve me.
I will be honest though.
Whenever I hear the first 7 statements from family and relatives, they stung. I acknowledge that there is still some more healing that needs to happen here.
But after the initial sting, I go back to my core and connect with what’s true in my Spirit. 🧘♀️
Occasionally, I would also meet people who would tell me the last 3 statements. And whenever I receive such feedback, I feel good. 😍
I mean, who wouldn’t feel amazing when receiving such powerful compliments, right?
👉 Actually, I know of someone…
That person, whenever she receives compliments, she would cringe internally. She would try to downplay, deny, joke about, or outright reject the compliment.
No matter how many people say that she is beautiful, she is a good person, she is so smart, and she is so kind — she couldn’t and she wouldn’t see and believe these for herself.
😞 That person was me growing up.
Up until I was 19 years old, I truly believed that I was a good-for-nothing-waste-of-space. That there was nothing good and beautiful and amazing in me. I didn’t believe in myself. I didn’t believe in my own worth.
When I chose to start my life anew when I turned 20, the inner battle didn’t stop overnight. 😭
It took me years of trying to accept, believe, and love myself…and then going back to old stories, beliefs, and habits.
Many times, I asked myself if the uphill battle was worth it. I felt so tired battling with myself. Trying to be a better person but not seeing any results.
Many times, I considered giving up and ending this seemingly endless path of misery and pain.
Many times, I considered ending the battle once and for all.
🔥 But thank God I held on and continued the fight.
It may have taken me more than a decade, but the journey is well worth all the pain.
Now, I wake up each day feeling so grateful to be alive. I feel this deep love for myself, for humanity, for my Creator, and for all Life!
Each day, I get to live my life answering the call of my Life to plant seeds of greatness and possibilities…to shine my beautiful, unique Light…and to inspire and invite others to shine!
🌠 I believe that I went through my own journey of not believing and loving myself because I am now called to be a guiding light for those who are currently going through the same journey.
💎 If you resonate with what you’ve read so far, please feel free to share your story below. I would love to celebrate you!
Peace, Love, and Light!
