The Discover Yourself Project

Ask yourself this. What's your least favorite thing about yourself? Now lets change that. Lets change the way we see ourselves. When we look in the mirror lets not see the thin tired mouth, the dark circles under our eyes, or the fly-aways sticking out of our hair. Lets instead see the smile on the lips, the brightness of the eyes, or the curls (or straightness) of the pretty hair we have. Lets take the negatives and make them positives.

I have this idea for people to share their stories. Everyone has a story, right? I know I do. And maybe it's not the most fascinating story that's ever been told, but it's my story. And that matters. We all want to share our stories, to be heard. We talk about ourselves, every one of us. Especially bloggers! We write entire pages on the internet dedicated to ourselves. We like to share our stories because we want to be heard. We want to know that the things we value are important and we are not alone.

Lets start now, and make it a 2014 personal intention. Lets talk about body image and self love. Lets talk about the things that are good and the things that are bad. Lets talk about the beauty of motherhood- and how damn hard it is. No one told me it would be this hard. No one told me it would be this wonderful. Lets talk about the beauty and the hardships of just being a woman. Lets talk about it. 

Lets talk about the fact that while I was pregnant I had more than one person accuse me of having an eating disorder and hurting my baby. I didn't. I had a very dangerous and scary disease called Hyperemesis Gravidarum that caused me to be hospitalized three separate times, triggered pre-term labor, and made me so sick I couldn't move for days. I cried myself to sleep repeatedly because I was terrified that something bad was going to happen to Everly because of this disease my body was fighting.

Lets talk about the fact that childbirth was the most painful, beautiful, intense, emotional, difficult, spiritual, amazing thing I've ever experienced. And when it was over the realness of life began. I had the most perfect daughter who depended on me entirely. She loved me and I loved her from the moment she was born and that love has only intensified with every passing day.

Lets talk about the fact that daily I question my abilities as a mother. I often look at Everly and think to myself that I am not worthy of her. She is superior in every way. She is smart and curious and beautiful and I will fight for her every single day of my life just so she can know happiness. My life is better with Everly in it. I am so lucky she is mine. She teaches and tests me every single day.

Lets talk about the fact that because of my HG I didn't gain any weight during pregnancy, but in fact lost 20 pounds. But now that I'm healthy again my stomach has gone down but it's not where I want it to be. My stomach is my least favorite part of my body. I do crunches, sit-ups, and other exercises and still my stomach is not flat. WHY? I'm learning to accept it, to love it even. I love my stomach. I carried my daughter there for 9 months and even without weight gain it stretched out and changed. And that's okay.

Lets talk about the fact that I love my face. I know, that sounded pretty vain right there, but part of this experience is talking about the good things too. It's okay to say that I love my face. It's not perfect, but it's mine and I really think it's a good one. I like the imperfections too. I honestly do.

This is a small part of my story. I want to share more. I will share more when the time is right. I'm starting this now, The Discover Yourself Project. If you want to share your story I would LOVE to hear it. You can send any and all submissions to thediscoveryourselfproject@gmail.com or if you'd like to share your story anonymously just go to this form and tell me all about yourself and your life.

xo Sue

As of right now, stories sent to us will be shared through As It Seems and The Discover Yourself Project. If we start to get a lot of stories (and hopefully we will!) they'll mostly be shared through The Discover Yourself Project. Please take a few minutes to visit us there, like us on Facebook, and share us with your friends. It would mean the world to us! THANK YOU!