As much as I hate ads in magazines they make for great inspiration, not only visually but with their words.
Flipping through the latest Vogue on my flight to NYC this past week, I wasn't looking for inspiration as far as a blog goes, my hopes were to find the most fabulous lipstick and hairstyle that would marry me off to a dashing young man in the near future. But as luck would have it, phrases in this fashion magazine began to pop out at me, speaking to my heart and instantly employing a deep desire to encourage my sleeping neighbor next to me in 37B.
I didn't immediately dive into my revelation due to my neighbor's heavy breathing and that last minute up till the wee hours in the morning packing ergo the zzz calling out my name. I made a sleepy decision to delve into the nuggets I had discovered in the November issue of Vogue upon my return home and I too joined 37B for a nice little catnap on the 757 to New York.
Fast forward to the aftermath of 5 glorious days in NYC with some of the most fabulous human specimens that have ever existed, I returned home from my trip and decided to revisit that place of inspiration.
And here is how it unfolded.
First ad.
What if a foundation could transform your skin in 4wks?
My translation.
What if a new foundation of how you see yourself changed your life in 4wks?
Seriously what if? What if you laid down a new way of seeing yourself and accepting yourself JUST AS YOU ARE.
not in the way you compare yourself to your highly educated colleague getting all the promotions,
or the supermodel, with flawless skin and slammin body, in the Vogue issue you just flipped through,
or your golfing buddy who seems to always birdie effortlessly while you over think your form, rearrange your stance 5x and take about a hundred practice swings and still come out in the high 90's
or that sweet girlfriend that not only got every lead in your HS play but lost all her post-baby fat within a week of delivery
or even being 35, still single, still trying to figure out who you are, and still paying rent.
WHAT IF we laid a new way of thinking about ourselves a strong, solid, and self-assured foundation. Accepting that we were created to do great things with gifts and talents that our uniquely ours that are totally different than our neighbors. Using the famous AA quote, “accepting the things you can't change” and loving yourself enough to let go of the what ifs, how comes, or why in God's gracious earth did I go out of the house looking like this, when my dreamboat was in that meeting?
I was sitting in church the other day and I had this unction that kind of overtook me. They were singing about breaking chains that hold you down and keep you out of the game of life. Of course my first thought was the chains of addictions, exes, lack, ect. and suddenly I had this thought...many of us carry a heavy burden with the chains of comparing, myself included. I thought of how comparing constantly pulls down every human spirit with the thought of not being enough or in some cases creates a false illusion that one is better than the other. What a lie! My therapist said to me once," Kristen, comparing kills joy". DOES IT EVER!
It's not healthy to compare yourself one to another. Just as there are only one set of fingerprints that are yours (which is mind blowing if you think about it) there is also one life, one plan, one mistakes, one destiny that is yours. The moment you own it and truly find your strengths, weaknesses, passions, talents, abilities, ect... and begin to love yourself, is the moment you will find instant transformation in your thinking, waking, walking and being. Your life will begin to unfold in a truly lovely story. Your story.
In my opinion the only healthy comparison is to compare yourself to your past: look how far you've come, you're alive, you made it; your present: I can right now make a decision for my future; your future: I'm going to be in that place called there, I have a vision of the best me.
Break the chains of comparing and begin to love ourselves just the way we are. (cue billy joel's hit “I Love You Just the Way You Are.”)
Second Ad.
“In her Choos”
My translation.
I actually read it as in her chaos.
Truth is tomorrow might never come and if it does your life might look real messy. Sometimes the best way to move forward is to do it in the midst of the chaos called “life”. Life can be beautiful but it doesn't always look like it. It's a matter of perspective and completely changes the way you see it. Making a decision to rise above the weight of how messy it is, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and begin to live the life you've imagined. Not ignoring the pain or even wallowing in it but making that courageous decision to “do” life and if you need to, “do” it afraid. Remember that revelation I spoke of before, the "what if" a new thinking in your foundation transformed you???...What if you took that revelation and added the power of the “do”; the world, your world, will never be the same.
You have officially hit your “about face”.
Third Ad.
“About Face”
My translation.
Well I knew what it meant but I decided to hit up good ole Webster dictionary to see the correct usage.
About Face-“a turn made so as to face the opposite direction.”
WOW. What a simple revelation but so powerful. You made a mental decision to change your foundation, you choose to get up and “do' in the midst of your mess and now you turn a complete 180 from your old self into your true self. The world is your oyster.
There is a point in time that you have to do what is age appropriate. It's time to wear your big girl underwear. No more superman “tighty whities” or princess “huggies wet control”. To whom much is given much is required. You have been given truth, experience and life, what are you going to do about it? Once you have become aware you can either choose to do something different or stay stagnant. It is healthy to make the turn around, its maturity. We all go through hellish things some more than others and there is a season, sometimes days and years to mourn it. But there has to be a day that we look at our life, examine it and ask ourselves, "is it time to let it go and make that about face?" There is nothing you can change about your past. I have lived with so much shame and self-condemnation; and not until I truly loved myself, let go of my failures and what ifs and allowed the love of God to consume my being, could I even imagine living these words or even writing them out loud. I had to come to my about face, we all do. I encourage you to let the past be that the past. Your future is bright, you have breath still in you, you still have purpose.
I have at least 20 more inspirational ads but I'm not writing a book, I'm writing a blog. So I leave you with this, I hope that you live the life you have imaged, the life you are destined to live.
And guess what? If you don't believe in yourself, I believe in you. You are loved!
-kjoy