Confidence Is A Beautiful Thing

There is something appealing about a woman who has confidence. A woman who knows she is smart, beautiful and strong.

I believe this is something many women strive for, or want others to believe they are, but many of us struggle with this.

In a society where magazines only show thin models and Photoshop is the airbrush tool of the trade, there is no wonder so many women look in the mirror and think they are not beautiful or think they are flawed. I know this is something I struggle with and I hope that struggle will not last much longer.

The funny thing about this is, the women featured in these magazines do not represent the average woman. The majority of women do not wear a size 0, rock 6-pack abs or have a bikini ready body. We need to stop placing all of this pressure to be perfect on ourselves and embrace our curves.

As a person who spent the majority of their life overweight and unhappy in their own skin, losing over 100-lbs is a huge change. For many months during my transformation, my mind didn't recognize the changes that were happening. My clothes became loose, inches dropped and the scale began to move in reverse, but in my mind I was still the same over weight person who was embarrassed to go out and be social. I dreaded going shopping for new clothes and I felt like people were looking at me and noticing my "problem areas" because those were all I seemed to focus on.

Even today I have days were I forget how far I have come and that I am not the same overweight woman I once was. It frustrates me that I have lost as much weight as I have, wear a single digit size and sometimes still feel insecure and self-conscious. Is my body perfect? No.....but it's mine and I know that I need to stop focusing on what I can't change right now and always be proud of what I have accomplished. Sometimes that is easier said than done, but this is all a process and I don't have any intentions of turning back so I better get used to it.

I am a beautiful, strong, smart woman and despite the fact that I sometimes let my inner demons get the best of me, I know how far I have come and I am ready to embrace the new me.