How to Love Your Flaws

WHAT YOU THINK ARE FLAWS ARE NOT

When I worked in the art department at Rose Art (maker of Mega Blocks!), in a previous life, Kristen McMenamy’s brother was my coworker. Anyone remember Kristen McMenamy?? No? Lemme give you the cliff notes…

She was a tall skinny pale girl in the late 80s who wanted nothing more than to be a model. This is the time of Cindy Crawford and the “girl next door” vibe. The top modeling agencies told her she looked too weird, too boyish, and suggested she get plastic surgery. In 1992, a French makeup artist basically told her to shave off her eyebrows… she did it, and her modeling career sky-rocketed, ushering in the age of waif-ish models and grunge fashion.

So, instead of crying in her soup that her chin was too pointy or that her eyes were too big, she made her weirdness weirder. She played on her strengths, which could have been viewed as her flaws. It’s just a matter of perspective.

Face it, we all look at ourselves and compartmentalize our features. I hear it all the time . . . “I hate that my _______ is so ______.”

Those, dear friend, are not flaws. Those are features that make you interesting, different, special… you. Those are you super powers. No one on the planet (except modeling agency reps promoting some sort of artificial vanilla reality) looks at you and sees a {insert feature} that is too {insert adjective}. Those of us out here see the love in your eyes, the joy in your smile, the mischief in your smirk.

Next time you look in the mirror, look at your whole self and try on this thought…
“What if this is beautiful?”

Let me know what happens. 😉