Love Your Imperfections

It's been a little while since I've blogged and I've missed it. So I am back with another heart-filled post and it feels good.

Today I want to talk about imperfection and why you need to fall in love with the part of you that fucks up, falls down and gets back up. Yup, I said fall in love. And I know it's possible because I started this journey about three years ago and it's been the most rewarding and fulfilling work I've done in my personal growth.

Our imperfect self is our authentic self. If we want to shine, grow and feel beautiful, this is it.

I know for a fact that if I never let myself fall apart and learned to love every messy bit of myself, I wouldn't be having the kind of perspective-opening and heart-expanding experiences that I do. You know why? Because being imperfect is liberating. It takes away a lot of the barriers that get in the way of living through our passion, love and power.

Embracing our imperfection is the doorway out of isolation and into living wholeheartedly. 

Let me ask you to do something with me now. Take a moment to explore your imperfections- what parts of yourself have you maybe held back out of shame or the belief that in that part you couldn't shine? Because you were afraid that if you showed that part of yourself, it would somehow not be okay or make you "less than."

Well let me take a moment to challenge that belief.
What if you suspended your judgement for a moment and leaned into those very parts with love?
What if you fully embraced those imperfections? What if you realized that those parts make you fucking awesome?

Our imperfections make us human. They make you who you are. And being who you are is insanely attractive.

Over the past few months, I've had a few opportunities to own my story. All of it. My imperfections, messy bits and vulnerability. Those moments have been both powerful and inspiring. Why? Because owning our story gives us the power to write the next chapter. It empowers us.

A few weeks ago I was at a leadership conference. I found myself speaking about mental health and the challenges we face when we go through dark times. To a public audience. Owning my story took courage, but I also got to speak about how we move through these dark times and find our strength and light in them. It was a life-changing moment.

And you know what? I've been realizing that we all want to be our imperfect, human selves, but the pressure we put on ourselves to be this impressive, achieving person gets in the way. Our culture often sets the bar to this way of being. "Do it all and make it look effortless" is the message.Well fuck that. Seriously!

When we hide our imperfections on our chase for excellence so that we can please people who we don't even know, we lose our spirit. It's exhausting and soul-sucking.  

Luckily, there is another way.

We have the choice to be all that we are. Yes, it takes being a bit of a rebel, but in being who we are, we give others the permission to do the same. We give each other permission to be free.

The truth is that perfection had nothing to do with greatness or being our best selves. Striving for greatness is about personal growth, while perfection is about pleasing other people. Totally different ball game folks.

At the end of the day, it comes down to the choice we make to be real. Are we willing to be uncomfortable and take of the mask? I think in a world where our purpose here is to connect, its worth the risk.

Because in our willingness to be imperfect, we open up the necessary space for greater connection and becoming our strongest, most alive and authentic selves.