This morning, I went to my friend's house for a make over. She is a really nice person who is selling a very well know line of make-up. We had a LOT of fun. My make over looked cute. I love make up...but why do I love make-up?That probably sounds silly but it's actually deeper than skin. I had to turn inwards to think about it this morning and after much thought, I thought some more...this is all from in my head:
Old people stop me and tell me how nice my skin is. I get compliments on my eye makeup from people even when I think I look like a baby prostitute. On more than one occasion as a child I had my friends' mothers tell me I had a beautiful face . My face, my skin, my eyes, my youthfulness, my pink cheeks....blah, blah, blah. Now, I'm not saying this to be boastful at all. I see myself everyday and I think I blend in to my surroundings. I am not "all about" my looks. I don't think I'm anything other than normal. But yet I love makeup. I stay out of the sun. I moisturize daily. I focus my "me time" on all of the things that other people have vocalized to me.
And this isn't just about me, and it's certainly not skin deep. Are we only good at the things we're good at because other people thought so and told us? So we focused our energies on those things to continue to get praise? What about other things that we are good at that people don't know about? What ARE those things? Let's be real, others' acknowledgements shouldn't define what we focus on. In order to grow as human beings we need to focus on new ways to improve ourselves and (more importantly) the lives of others. So, instead of resting on the obvious, we need to turn ourselves inside out!
I'm going to put something out here that may seem simple to others, but to me it's radical thinking. I'm going to focus on the hidden things. Not the things that other's notice, but things that I notice. For example, I never thought about blogging until I decided my creative thinking was dying a slow death in front of the TV. But I have a great imagination. I'm going to focus on using my imagination in my blog. I'm going to grow my imagination and improve my writing skills. What are YOU good at that no one knows about? What are your secret pros? Please share them with others. I can promise you that the world will be a better place for it.
Unless you're really good at killing people or butchering humans or manufacturing crack cocaine. In that case, please keep it to yourself.
I loved this post. It's so true...it has me thinking now. :)
ReplyDeleteTaking the time to focus on ourselves is tough. Being a wife AND mother it has to extra hard. But it's worth it because in the longrun, your kids will see you try new things, get better at them, and know that they can too!
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