#gratefulforme
Hello you beautiful people,
It has been a serious while since I last sat down and actually wrote. My writing has basically just consisted of to do lists for the last few months, not a lot of creativity. (Well in my writing, there has been a lot of other creative stuff happening in the background). It’s funny, when you feel like you’re too busy, that you stop making time for the things you love and things that light your soul on fire. Notice how I said, making time. Because thats all it is really, prioritising. Thats not the only reason, I haven’t been here in a while. When I wasn't in the best place last year, I wrote from a very angry place. This hub is a positive space for me and for others. So when I wasn't feeling 100% positive and in it for the last few months, it just wasn't going to happen!
But I'm back and boy oh boy does it feel good!
The idea for this post came to me one morning over my morning plunger coffee in MAY ... I posted on my stories and asked you to answer some questions for me. I was so humbled by the responses and I just want to say a massive thank you to all the girls that did send in responses. I promise they have been in a safe place ever since and I so appreciated you for being so raw, real and honest!
My initial idea was to collate the responses, but when you gorgeous people were so honest with me, I felt like it would be a lot more powerful to just write it down how I received it.
Body confidence and just being a teenager are things I really struggled with and still do fight internal battles sometimes - (the body confidence one, not a teenager anymore thank goodness) But boy, have I come a long way since high school and the horrid things I used to write about myself in my diary. I think we all seem to have this unwavering feeling that we are so alone, we look at other people and scroll our social media and think people are PERFECT and have it all together. News flash, no one is or has it all together. It is so easy to look at others and want their lives, their bodies or parts of their personality. We spend so long wanting to be someone else that we forget how epic we are! We all have insecurities, and things we struggle or struggled with in our teen years and through high school. My self love and being body confident has been a long journey and it’s still a journey, but I am really proud of how far I have come. I realised this year that you seriously just have to be grateful for what you’ve got and rock it! As cheesy as it is, no one is you and that is your super power!
I hope that when you read through the answers, it makes you feel less alone, or gives you ideas on how to show yourself a bit of self love and feel beautiful, because you are!
What is one thing you are self conscious of or you dont really like about your body?
My arms and my sunspots on my face from too much UV - wear sunscreen!
Eyebrows, lack of abs, hip fat
My stomach is my least favourite part of my body for sure
My body shape. Definitely my hips. Still hate them
My skin. Its not super clear
My legs. My legs are super long and out of proportion, my quads are huge and calves are tiny so its hard to accept them
Im a very confident person in myself. One thing that Im very self conscious of is my mental health! I feel like people just think im being dramatic when Im struggling. I also dont like to talk about it when im upset because it can be over the most minimal things
My weight
Legs
What others think of me and other people not liking me for me
Tell me something that makes you confident, beautiful and like an asbolute babe?
Regular and consistent workouts
I’ve started going to the gym in just my sports bra and spandex. My body looks awful in them, but I use it as motivation to get fit and lose those extra parts so much quicker. Last night I noticed myself sucking in my stomach in as soon as I took my jacket off. then I just let it sit how it naturally is and throughout my workout, I felt so empowered to finally be confident enough to be me.
I feel confident when I’m at the gym and pushing my body to do things it was never able to do, feeling strong is very motivating and empowering. But ofcourse I love doing my makeup and getting ready for a night out.
I naturally have curly hair sorta like yours and i sometimes straighten it not all the time to make me feel like a babe
Excercise! And moving your body - get those endorphins flowing! and spending time with people who make you feel better just by spending time with them.
When my makeup, hair, abs, outfit looks good
I play ultimate frisbee, as a woman Im not too phased by makeup - ultimate frisbee means a lot of mud and running around and lots of diving into the ground. I feel sometimes with all the stress my day brings there is nothing better than getting muddy and running around and letting everything out - and that is my personal secret to confidence
The friends that i have now make me feel confident in myself. Also, pretending that you have confidence makes me feel confident. Its a fake it till you make it persona
The gym, but usually clothes
Makeup for me makes me feel more confident especially when Im at work where I am constantly dealing with people.
Pistol squats
going to the gym. Wearing my cute activewear, listening to boss girl beats and feeling really good after working hard. or getting dressed up and feeling pretty.
What was the hardest part or is the hardest part of your teenage years?
Always making decisions around what my friends thought was cool, not neccessarily what I liked
People believing I was one type of person and having to maintain that daily. Wearing the mask got so exhausting and I had to hide all of my struggles. If I talked about them I thought I would be ruining peoples images of me
Dealing and recovering from my eating disorder. Although I am recovered it is still a huge part of my life and I do have moments where I find myself getting in my head.
Teenage love and learning how to deal with your emotions in a proper way (e.g not using alcohol, and sex or drugs to mask your feelings, being able to speak out about anxiety and not hide it)
Definitely body image
Could be dealing with mood changes and the stuff I found hard at home with my family
Realising that some people aren’t meant to be in your life, and that sometimes making yourself happy means letting go of people who dont make you feel good, even if they are your “friends”. Cut off your dead ends for growth and i dont just mean your hair is one of my favourite sayings.
Skin
My hardest part was having health issue meaning I often never felt quite well enough and people didnt understand
I’m a teenager now and the hardest part is juggling everything between sport, school and managing the stress around that, its something I Haven’t mastered yet, Im dealing with stress breakouts and breakdowns a lot but im working on it.
I struggled with finding true friendships and putting trust in the right people. Im sure you know this and can relate, but just people being nasty. as a community, we need to be a lot kinder to each other. There should be no pettiness or drama.
Body image. But also finding friends who are actually on your vibe and not trying to fit in to the group of friends you think you should/ you’ve maybe been stuck with since primary school and no longer gel with.
Not having a friend or two that you can always rely on and hang out with. Ive found that I keep leaving groups of friends and finding myself quite lonely. Friendships for me have always been one sided and if youre out of sight you’re out of mind. I ended up leaving school early.
Growing up without parents (Mum passed away when I was 15 and i had no relationship with my Dad) .. just a loss of direction and went through depression.
My first break up at 16, I was so upset, sick, and depressed to be alone becasue I wasnt comfortable enough with myself and relied on others for confidence. I relied heavily on drinking alcohol and the littlest attention from boys I could get to build it up. That was the lowest point in my life but I am so grateful for it because it helped me become the strong woman I am today who has hope that one day i can help girls that are in that position.
The Wholeness Hub is what it is because of you. I have been so inspired by you, and I know I wish that when I was going through my teen years and some of my darkest times, I wish I could have read something like this. I am very realistic in knowing that just reading something isn’t going to make everything better though - so I did a thing!
If you want to be apart of a supportive, caring, motivating and inspiring community of girls! Come join the Wholeness Hub Club! One of my favourite parts of social media is meeting people in real life or just talking to people who are going through the same thing, so I have a few ideas up my sleeve and I’d love for you to join me! I felt like I never fit in at school and maybe you might feel the same! My theory was I just hadn’t met my people yet, and maybe you haven’t yet either.
I would also love for you to write down something today, or share it on instagram or your stories something that you love about yourself! It is so easy to look at what we don’t like about our bodies, but I really encourage you today to embrace what you see as imperfections and tell yourself in the mirror what you love about yourself!
You are beautiful, important, intelligent, caring and so worthy of all the happiness that comes your way! I am grateful for you and I hope you are grateful for yourself and how amazing you are too!
If you do share on social media, tag me and use the hashtag #gratefulforme. Go out there, embrace you and be yourself!
I’m excited to talk to you again soon!
Love and Health,
C xo