Overcoming Low Self-Esteem
So I did a thing...
Yes, the girl they used to call "fat & ugly" in elementary school. Tamika Whales they used to say...
At 40, I finally did a photoshoot where I was actually comfortable in my own skin!
I learned that children need a culture at home to counter the hate and mixed messages from outside. And when we don't, it might take us a little while, a whole lotta reading, and therapy but BREAKTHROUGH can occur! To be honest, when it came to a woman's self-esteem, just going to church wasn't enough. Very few churches are equipped to handle a person's emotional trauma. We use it as a treatment but not a cure. That's what 2020 exposed and THANK YOU! Hopefully, we've not only got the memo but an action plan in place. WE GOTTA DO THE WORK. We gotta invite in experts. Mental & emotional wellness is real and GOD KNOWS. The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22, 23 deals with our emotions. Philippians 4:8 deals with our mind. It was confusing and difficult to apply these truths to me, a woman, in a patriarchal, supremacist society that says everything about me, isn't enough. It's pride to think you're beautiful and powerful. Confidence and pride are two separate things. Low self-esteem isn't humility. It's actually another form of pride because it's self-focus and hinders us from obeying God. "No, God I can't sing publicly, I don't sound like an American Idol winner." "Oh no, I'm too slim to be taken seriously when I speak in front of people." And it goes on and on...Sometimes it takes people, authors, and influences outside of your daily routine, outside of your upbringing to show you how to apply scripture and other techniques to heal our wounded souls. But it can be done!
So now that the scales and layers are coming off, let's be our AUTHENTIC, creative geniusy selves! (NEW WORD) We're created in His image. Let's SHINE!
To read more about body image and confidence, pre-order my book, "Into the Soul of a Woman", and read the poem, "All of Me Loves All of Me" and "It Just Is..."
