Yesterday one of my old friends posted this picture. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. First of all, for me to dress that nicely even for church, was a rare thing so I don't have a lot of pictures of myself outside of t-shirts and jeans from those days. So I generally remember myself as a frumpy, plain Jane who thought she was fat.

When I saw this picture, I thought to myself that I never remember looking like that. I'm not saying I was any rare beauty or anything like that. But I never dared hope I could be pretty. It just makes me a little sad to think of the awful things I thought of myself. And how, even then, I didn't like to stand out. Though it was partially due to having no money, I rarely felt it was worth looking nice or pretty. Who would look twice at me anyway? But I actually COULD look pretty, little did I know.

I definitely have a much-improved sense of fashion and self worth since those days. And though I only slightly resemble that slender, youthful girl, I am going to talk to myself like the beautiful woman that I am. A lifetime of comparing yourself to others, hating your body, and thinking horrible thoughts does no good.

And who knows, 10 years from now I'll probably be looking at a picture of myself now and wish I could go back to looking like this. I'd like to embrace each stage of life, not wishing to go back to another and I'm going to start learning to do that today. But I still like this picture.