I Choose Me

The first step in becoming the Best Version of You is accepting who you are.  When I started my journey of becoming the best version of me, I was at my breaking point. I didn’t like where I was in life and wanted a change. But, even though I was at my breaking point, it wasn’t until I chose the woman who I saw in the mirror and decided to love her at her current place in life that I was truly able to start my journey.

What do I mean??? It is difficult to change something that you don’t like or love.  Most of us want to make a change in life, whether it is health, career or something else. We try to make the changes but never seem to be able to. The reason for this is because we do not like or love the person that we are or we do not love or like the place we are in life.  Weight loss is a great example.  I am about to be real with ya’ll, so hang tight.

“our imperfections become something that we are changing not to make us perfect but are changing to enhance what is already perfect”

I have been attempting to get fit, healthy and lose weight for a while. The first attempt was so that I could be accepted by others. The second attempt,  I thought in my young mind (really young mind), that if I was smaller and looked like Beyonce that someone would date me. The third attempt was when I wanted to show a guy that I was beautiful and that he made a big mistake. In all these attempts it was never for me but for others ( guys to be honest). One day, I was standing in the mirror and a question came to mind. The question was: “do you love the person you see in the mirror?” At that moment in life, my answer was no; I didn’t love the Elyse that I was staring at. So, I decided to start choosing me and loving the person I am.

One day I looked at myself in the mirror and said; “I love me with all the flaws. I love me with my extra curves and edges and with all my perfect imperfections. I am happy with how I look and with whom I am. I love me and I choose the person I am right now; I choose me.”  Coming to this place in life didn’t happen overnight but happened over a long period of time ( I mean a long period of time). But when I could say that, it was then, I found the strength to make changes to better the Elyse in the mirror.

Choosing me is a fancy way to say I love me. It is accepting who you are right now in life and loving who you are with the weight, the pimples, the acne, the blemishes and all of the other flaws that make you beautiful. It is loving the imperfections. When you love who you are with the imperfections, they become part of what makes you beautiful and perfect. So when you decide to become the best version of yourself, your imperfections become something that you are changing not to make you perfect but are changing to enhance what is already perfect.

I challenge us, to choose to love who we are. Love the plus size you. Love the acne scarred you. Love the skinny you; love who You are! Love and accept the person you see in the mirror. Because that person is beautiful, gorgeous, pretty, lovely, smart, talented, handsome (for the guys),  and one of a kind. Love yourself and choose yourself because no one will ever love you as much as God does and you.

~Elyse