Better Your Life: Be Free!

Today I came to the disheartening realization that the faces I think I make and the faces I really make are like the difference between Mercury and Pluto’s orbit around the sun. (We’ll put it this way: the orbits are WAY different.) I think I’m making cute faces like Alexis Bledel or Lucy Hale, but I actually look like more like something … not cute. And it hurt my feelings. I thought I would be okay with triple-chin pictures of me being on the Facebook, but I’m a little self-conscious.

You have those pictures, those that you thought would be cute just turned out like no, or those moments when you’re trying to be sexy and you look awkward instead. What about when you try and flirt, and it just comes off that you’re sarcastic? Anyone else get that one? Yep, that’s me. How about this one: you’re trying to be quiet and not disturb people – maybe you came in after your roommate went to bed or you’re trying to sneak into your house way after everyone has gone to bed – and you drop everything, the dogs start barking like a burglar’s in the house and, all of a sudden, SOMEONE has to PEE. IT NEVER FAILS.

Now, we can allow these moments to keep us holed up in our rooms, hiding our pictures from everyone, deleting our Facebook and making a self-deprecating Facebook status like “I’m so ugly, no one would ever like me” just so people will put, “NO! SHUT UP! YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL!” (Word: that makes you look desperate for attention and then you’ll get the WRONG attention.) And you know what? Life is so short. We have so much that we can do to help people, so if we’re spending our time focusing on terrible faces we make, how we fall every time we’re in heels or how our flirting capabilities are as effective as an unplugged coffee maker, we can’t possibly help our fellow human beings or do what we’re passionate about.

This is why, this month, we’re going to make our lives better by getting over ourselves and being FREE!

There’s a song that I heard on Gilmore Girls called “Child Psychology,” and the chorus goes: “Life is not fair/ Kill yourself or get over it.” I don’t suggest, nor do I condone, killing yourself (and if you are, PLEASE get help, there are people who care about you … I promise!), I take it to say that we simply need to get over ourselves. We need to get over the fact we don’t look as whatever we thought in pictures and just BE FREE.

Lately, I have had something stirring deep in my soul to be free. I want to be FREE. Free-spirited people have so much more fun, but I’m so stressed all the time because I’m trying to be Ms. Perfect and do everything that everyone wants me to do because I’m a good-hearted person. Forget my sanity, forget my need to do schoolwork or take personal time or just relax or sleep or eat even. If you need something, I’m there. I want to be free, though. I want to be FREE from what I think of me, from what everyone else thinks of me, from what I feel I’m expected to live like. The only opinion that should matter to me is God, but I let people dictate to me what I’ll do, what I’ll think, what I’ll feel, where I’ll go. I can often lose sight of who I’ve been created to be and what I’ve been created to do because I’m so caught up trying to be everything for everyone else.

I know I’m not the only one like me out there. You! Sitting there reading this post thinking, “That’s me, too. How does she know what I’m thinking?” This post is for you. This is for everyone, but it’s more for you. Let’s learn to be free together. What do you say? Let’s get over ourselves and just be free. Who cares if we have terrible-looking triple chins or if our hair is falling, or if our outfit makes us look bad on Facebook, or who cares if we want to walk around and sing in public or dance? WHO CARES? Let’s try this coming month to choose to be FREE together.

What do you need to “get over” in yourself? Share with us in the comments section below!