There’s a conversation that I’ve been having inside my head for some time now- yes, that is different than hearing voices inside my head in case you were wondering!
I’ve been thinking and thinking about how much time and energy is spent by each of us at any given moment in time that relates to how we feel we are perceived by the people in our lives. I speak of the internal judging that we do on the behalf of our friends, family, coworkers or that stranger sitting across from you on the bus, subway or whatnot.
Is this making any sense to you?
How much energy or self confidence are we wasting by wondering how others feel about us?
How much are we judging ourselves just so that we can be more accepted, more loved, more a part of the collective group?
I’ve spent more than my share of time wondering if I was going to be accepted. I spent way too much time if I was wearing the right clothes, saying the right things, going to the right places and even worse, thinking the right things.
All this accomplished was a loss of self-confidence, a questioning of my own beliefs, my own thoughts, a question of my own wardrobe and career and income and and and…
In short, this accomplished nothing.
But what do we have to gain by asking for acceptance?
First we ask for acceptance from our own selves. Are you ready, willing and capable of accepting yourself fully for exactly who you are and who you are to become? I mean 100% no holds barred unconditional acceptance of yourself?
If you can’t do this, you can never ask anyone else to accept you.
I use the phrase “Warts and All” because that’s how we should be thinking of it.
Are you ready to accept yourself warts and all? Think, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Once you have accepted yourself completely then the next step is to love yourself completely.
Unconditional Acceptance.
Unconditional Love.
These are the first two things you should ever ask of yourself. The healthiest of people have little else than their physical health if they are still worried about how they look, about how others perceive their health, their physical body or if they’re going to be accepted by someone because of who or what they are.
I can use this space to be completely honest with my readers. I don’t know how long I went in my past where I did not love myself unconditionally. It’s a really scary thought to realize that and also to know that I wasn’t letting myself regardless of whether or not I was even capable of self-love.
Where do you stand on this? Have you ever had a moment in your life where you spent more time worrying about what other’s would say and not once asking yourself for you own internal wisdom? That voice inside your head might not be saying much else than self-depreciating chatter that will do little else than to cut you down more so than any other outsider could ever.
Before you can ask anyone else to accept you warts and all, you need to do it first.
At some point in your life you will get to that moment where you’ll have to decide. Will you continue on the same road that you’ve been on- the one where the opinions of others count more than your own? Or will you be brave enough to venture out and create a new road where you are master of your own domain? Will you go to that place where you are king or queen of your own body and mind?
Because once you can get yourself to fully and unconditionally love and accept yourself, you’ll find that the over-concern you had for other’s opinons of you will begin to fade away. You’ll find yourself in a place where your self-confidence is constant and consistant. You don’t worry about what other’s think because you know the truth.
You live each day according to the desire of your heart and the demands in your head- not because someone else is telling you that you need to be doing it, but rather because it is in you to do so.
You have accepted yourself completely- warts and all as I call it- and have been able to give others permission to do the same for you.
You have freed yourself to live your life authentically because you’re able to drop the mask and finally be yourself. Truly, madly, deeply you.
Will you allow others to accept you completely? Will you allow yourself to do the same?
Will you allow yourself to finally be completely free?
Are you ready to reveal your beautiful self? Are you ready to step out as the real you, warts and all?
You do not need to be perfect. You never did need to be perfect. The idea of perfectionism stems more out of self doubt and fear rather than the need for perfection.
If you can accept that you will never be perfect and actually will never be required to be perfect, then the freedom of unconditional love and unconditional acceptance is given the chance to take a deeper hold on your heart and soul.
Are you ready?
It’s time to drop the mask, to put the costume away and finally step outside into the sunshine and say, “This is the real me. Take me as I am. I may not be perfect but this is who I am. I am not afraid to be who I am. I am not afraid to step into my own greatness. It’s time for me to live my life as the real me. I have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
