I look cute today.

My niece, Rachel, gave me a perm on Thursday (thanks, Rachel!). Yesterday, I curled my hair with curling iron. I don't do that much, because it takes too long. 20 minutes is much more than I usually spend on my hair. Anyway, it turned out so cute. I got my make-up on and got dressed for church and looked in the mirror and thought, "I look cute today. I should have Guy take my picture so I can put one of me on my internet account." I went downstairs and didn't ask him to take my picture. I felt kind of funny admitting that I thought I looked good and wanted my picture taken. What is up with that???? It's not like he would disagree, he tells me I look good all the time. It really wasn't about my husband. It was about me and my self-image.
I don't think I'm alone in this. We are so hard on ourselves. We try to do so much and feel so inadequate in the process. It's hard to even take a compliment. Have you ever done this? Someone tells you that you look nice and you say something like, "Oh, this dress is so old. It's one of my fat dresses. I just couldn't find anything to wear today." (I hope I'm not the only one who does this.) We just take the compliment and throw it away. I so admired a woman in my last ward. Her name is Natalie Adams and she is one of the sweetest people I've ever known. Any time she was complimented she would reply, soooo sincerely, "Thank you. You are so sweet." She not only took the compliment graciously, she turned it around and made the complimenter feel good about themselves. How amazing is that?
This is one reason I love the quote at the top of my blog. We all have so much potential, but the world is working so hard to make us believe otherwise. I know if we all could know what other people think about us, we would feel differently. We all worry about ourselves and look at all of our weaknesses and think others look at the same thing. I don't think that's true. I look at the women I know and am so in awe of how they live and raise their families. I'm older than most of my friends, yet I want to be like them. I will mention a couple, like Rebekah, who has a house that looks like a model home and she decorated it herself. My cousin, Tara, who has these beautiful girls and keeps it all together while her husband is across the world. Megan, who to me is the epitomy of "having it all together". I could list all of you, but it would take too long. Just know that I do admire you and you are FABULOUS!
So, next time my hair looks cute, I'll swallow my self-concious fears and get that picture taken.