Can you believe it? This is my final post for July! It seems summer only just arrived. In two or three weeks, depending on where you’re from, school will open and summer will officially end for families with children. I need to get busy having fun!

Hello, Thursday Morning readers! Thanks so much for stopping by.

I’m getting ready for a book launch! Amid all the work and excitement, I tend to turn retrospective. It’s not always a bad thing. I’ve read a lot of posts lately about self-esteem and self-image. Writers releasing books often have to put on their “happy in my skin” masks so they can market themselves with a positive image. After all, who wants to buy a book written by a depressed hermit? Not me.

Not that I’m depressed, or a hermit. My teen years were spent trying to hide the fact that an emotional trainwreck lived in my body. I had such low self-esteem, I wouldn’t even attend my senior prom. The real reason for that? All my friends would show up looking gorgeous, and I would look dowdy and ridiculous. You see, my opinion of myself did not match the image in the mirror.

I look back at photos taken of me in those days, and I wonder why I thought I was fat. Why could I not enjoy those years? What blocked my joy? Self image. Low self esteem.

I can’t blame my parents. I now know my mother’s lot was not much better. To this day, she tends to pick at herself. Too-big ears, ugly feet, unattractive legs, and unruly hair. Looking at her, I see none of those things. She is only twenty years my senior. In grade school, my teachers assumed she was my sister.

She was slender and beautiful and attracted attention everywhere we went, mostly because of her smile. Okay, maybe she IS the reason I felt so dowdy. I did not inherit her body type. I was not slender. I have normal ears and straight hair that was never difficult to arrange, but that wasn’t really enough to make me feel beautiful. I realize this is normal among teens in general and in teen girls especially. Over the years, I’ve come to accept those parts of myself that I can’t change. Even so, there are still times when I look in the mirror and cringe.

How do we overcome a negative self-image?

Maybe by moving our attention to others. Be a friend/wife/mother/etc., who loves at all times. Shoulder their burdens, be in the present with them. Laugh with them, cry with them. Maybe by not caring so much what others think about things like clothing choices or our ability with the comb and makeup brush. Or, how high that little needle points on the bathroom scale.

I mentioned above that I need to accept the things I can’t change but I do need to change the things I can.

I need to make good decisions when it comes to my health and what I take into my body.

I need to make sure I drink plenty of water and get the exercise I need.

Another thing I can change is my stress level. Sometimes I just need to breathe. I need to back away from things and take my hands off the steering wheel (but only when I’m not the driver!). Laugh and enjoy life in the moment (as in the above photo!).

I know I’m not alone in this, and things that work for me may not work for others. So, how do you cope with self image? What are your favorite scriptures to bolster those low times?

Sometimes I just need to breathe. I need to back away from things and take my hands off the steering wheel (but only when I’m not the driver!). Laugh and enjoy life in the moment–Click to Tweet

The official release date for Annabelle’s Joy is August 7, 2019. Meanwhile, join me on Facebook for the pre-release fun, activities and giveaways!

– AND –

You still have a few more days to enter to win a free year of reading from Kindle Unlimited. You can enter here: https://www.writeintegrity.com/sweepstakes