Flaws & All.

J.

Marie.

All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was. I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory. I was naïve. I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer. It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with: that I am nobody but myself.

~Ralph Ellison

While watching The Beyonce Experience tonight, specifically the "Flaws & All" performance, I got inspired to write...finally, right? :)

I've done a post or two touching on a similar topic, but because this is an issue that becomes more and more prevalent in my life and the lives of those around me, I felt the need to address it again...sort of a....Piggy Back Post. ;)

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Oft times, we allow others to define us.

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Our lack of self-direction causes us to seek approval and diagnosis from others. However, I've learned- and learned the hard way- that no matter how lost you may be, the truth is ALWAYS within. No one knows YOU better than...well, YOU! (besides God, of course). So stop relying on others to tell you how to live YOUR life. People are so quick to play the prescriptive role instead of doing an evaluation on themselves!

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So start dressing, saying, being, and doing what comes naturally.

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Love yourself. FLAWS AND ALL.

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Honestly, it took me a while to get to this point. But now that I'm here, I couldn't be more liberated.
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HAPPY. :)
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Be yourself, because, as Ellison put so eloquently...

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You are nobody but yourself.