Sign In
RegisterDo you measure up? Yes, you do!
14 June 2010 - 02:56 PM | Posted by Sandy Hackenmueller
Categories: Uncategorized
I am beautiful!
I haven’t always been beautiful. I used to spend a lot of time on my appearance, my clothing, my makeup. Yet despite these efforts, I still didn’t like myself. In fact, I started to feel less worthy…was I as pretty as the next person? Dressed as well? And so on.
I wanted to be beautiful. So many people around me were beautiful. Everyone on TV was beautiful. The magazines…the movies. Why did I get the short end of the stick?
The year 2000 brought children into our family, as well as 2002 and 2003. I no longer had time to think about how I looked. I donned the Mom Uniform…an oversized t-shirt and lounge pants. After 4-5 years, when the dust began to settle around here, I wondered where the heck “I” went to. I reminisced over some old pictures I had come across, trying to remember the “me” there used to be.
And there in those photos, I saw a beautiful woman. As I sat in my sweats, I was stunned at how lovely I thought the “pre-Mom” was. Perfectly styled hair, makeup, fashionable clothes. I longed to look fresh, stylish, and carefree again. And it hit me – didn’t I feel UGLY back then?
I looked down at myself, in my worn out, elastic-waisted bottoms and my favorite sweatshirt with the ratty sleeves. A “uniform” that I’ve been teased about plenty of times. I took this quiet moment and realized…this was the most beautiful I’ve ever felt.
I have given more of myself over the past few years than at any other point in my life. I’ve shared love, support, strong character, and respect. I’ve been a mom, a wife, a friend, a volunteer, a charitable contributor. It hit me like a ton of bricks…I am beautiful, now, because of who I am and who I see myself as. I am not beautiful because of what others think.
You are not beautiful because of what other people think.
The most beautiful thing you can do as a mother, is to make sure your children know this too. Build up their character, strengthen their self esteem, let them know they are loved, and send them off in to the world. They will know they are beautiful, whether people who encounter them see it that way or not.
~Sandy Hackenmueller, freelance photographer and Mom to three beautiful children.
I haven’t always been beautiful. I used to spend a lot of time on my appearance, my clothing, my makeup. Yet despite these efforts, I still didn’t like myself. In fact, I started to feel less worthy…was I as pretty as the next person? Dressed as well? And so on.
I wanted to be beautiful. So many people around me were beautiful. Everyone on TV was beautiful. The magazines…the movies. Why did I get the short end of the stick?
The year 2000 brought children into our family, as well as 2002 and 2003. I no longer had time to think about how I looked. I donned the Mom Uniform…an oversized t-shirt and lounge pants. After 4-5 years, when the dust began to settle around here, I wondered where the heck “I” went to. I reminisced over some old pictures I had come across, trying to remember the “me” there used to be.
And there in those photos, I saw a beautiful woman. As I sat in my sweats, I was stunned at how lovely I thought the “pre-Mom” was. Perfectly styled hair, makeup, fashionable clothes. I longed to look fresh, stylish, and carefree again. And it hit me – didn’t I feel UGLY back then?
I looked down at myself, in my worn out, elastic-waisted bottoms and my favorite sweatshirt with the ratty sleeves. A “uniform” that I’ve been teased about plenty of times. I took this quiet moment and realized…this was the most beautiful I’ve ever felt.
I have given more of myself over the past few years than at any other point in my life. I’ve shared love, support, strong character, and respect. I’ve been a mom, a wife, a friend, a volunteer, a charitable contributor. It hit me like a ton of bricks…I am beautiful, now, because of who I am and who I see myself as. I am not beautiful because of what others think.
You are not beautiful because of what other people think.
The most beautiful thing you can do as a mother, is to make sure your children know this too. Build up their character, strengthen their self esteem, let them know they are loved, and send them off in to the world. They will know they are beautiful, whether people who encounter them see it that way or not.
~Sandy Hackenmueller, freelance photographer and Mom to three beautiful children.
