Naturally Imperfect

When you walk around the mall, your own town, or the gym – are you the type to ‘wish’ you had those legs? That hair? That body?   What about scrolling through Instagram or Tik Tok – do you stop and compare yourself to those onscreen influencers projecting their oh so perfect lives?  If so, you may require a gentle reminder of who you REALLY are.

The word imperfect actually spells I’m Perfect because everyone is perfect in their own imperfect ways… Anonymous.

I recently finished a devotional called – Have a Comparison Free Summer.  A fantastic read – if only as a gentle reminder to love yourself!  Be true to yourself! Stop comparing yourself to the online fake world.  We can often get caught up in the new trend or the must-have item of the summer and if we aren’t the size 0-2 that magazines portray – too frequently, these trends more than likely don’t fit into our lives.  

To coincide with this topic, I bought strawberries the other day and the label caught my eye. 

Naturally Imperfect (Freshness and quality… in all shapes and sizes)

What’s even better is the brand  ‘no name’.  

Analyzing this, it made me think!

We are all imperfect beings.  Not two people are identical (Well, I guess with the exception of identical twins).  We are all created to be different.  That is even true for identical twins as their personalities are often different from one another.  If God intended each of us to be different, then why are we all trying to be the same?  Why are the magazines and social media trends trying to bubble us into the ‘same’ trend or look?  Why is mainstream media trying to herd us all into thinking the same way? Liking the same political party?  Causing us to turn away from friends or neighbors because of different thinking?  

If we are created to be imperfect – we should think imperfect. We should live imperfect.  God created us all to be unique – right down to our fingerprints.  We are not intended to be ‘sames’ with other.  We are not intended to compare ourselves to others.  We are to love one another as we love ourself.  In other words, love who you are – flaws, imperfections, unique thinking and all and portray love onto others with all of their flaws, imperfects and uniqueness.

So, as we head into summer – the season of bathing suits, bikinis, short shorts (Daisy Dukes in my day) and tank tops, stop comparing yourself to that seemingly gorgeous fit instragrammer making life look like it’s perfect.  If we could see behind the scenes of her life – her struggles, her blemishes, her hardships, and her flaws (yes, she most definitely has flaws), THAT would be someone to look up to.  The real her. 

You want to know the real me?  

I am an over 50 wife and mother who does try to stay fit, but has noticed over the years that keeping the weight off is more of a struggle. My laugh lines are more prominent.  The grey strands in my hair are beginning to out number the blonde ones and my surprise hot flashes definitely warm up the bed so my husband doesn’t freeze.  

If I were to compare my looks or physique to some of those popular Women Over 50 fashion or fitness pages – I definitely would wince.  But!  I choose not to.  I love who I am. I love that I am healthy and relatively fit.  I love that I have my bloating moments as well as my blemish moments.  I love that my laugh lines stand out (it means I have led a very joyous and laughable life). I love that if you look closely, I have 10 different toes. I love that my teeth aren’t perfect.  I love that I have next to no eyebrows (that is even an option on creating your bitmoji lol).  I love me.  

You see… each piece of you. Each specific unique part of you – gets pieced together to form a masterpiece!

We need to be kinder to ourselves.  Love ourselves.  Be happy with who we’ve become.  Not only is it less stressful, but it is a more peaceful way to live.  

Sidenote: To read more about being kinder to yourself – click HERE

My wish for you is to have a comparison free summer. Free from all of the ‘must-have’ and ‘must-be’ influences out there.  Remind yourself that you are enough!  Because according to God, you are fearfully and wonderfully made.  

Never forget that!  

You are naturally imperfect full of  freshness and quality – in all shapes and sizes.