@BigFashionista has opened an interesting can of worms here. Blogging can provide a shield for your true persona, but can it also be a safe way to show your true feelings, the real you?
I think that, to some extent, we all have a persona that we like to present to the world. But the big question is why?
Is it because as humans we want to be liked and/or loved, and we believe that the real ‘me’ is not loveable.
Do you look at ‘confident’, ‘beautiful’ people and wish you were like them. Whereas in reality, for many of them, their beauty and confidence is only in the eye of the beholder, because it is an image they carefully put on to hide insecurities and low self image. So perhaps you wouldn’t want to be like them?
Each and every one of us is unique. We each have our own personalities, gifts and skills. We each have characteristics that no one else has or ever will have. So we are living as a one off, and we must learn to appreciate that uniqueness and love it, and not compare it with anyone else. (Ps 139)
Our nurturing can bring with it negative emotions which will embed into our personalities and create low self esteem and insecurities. We can overcome these negative feelings and develop the personality that we were meant to have - the one that we can love and therefore the one that everyone else can love.
When I wrote ‘Because you’re a Woman’, I often had to remind myself of the reason why I was telling my story. Not because I wanted everyone to know what a difficult childhood I had had, but because I wanted other women who had been abused to know that it is OK to own up to what you experienced, that there was no shame in it, and no guilt to be lived with. I want to encourage other women to tell of their experience because only then can they begin to heal. And if I couldn’t stand up in public and own my story, how could I expect others to talk about theirs?
I had always hidden the real me because it was ugly, and bad. Until I learned that this belief was not true. I had been denying myself the freedom to love and be loved, because these beliefs were suppressing the real me.
One thing women can do well is TALK. We should all encourage each other to talk and share our deep worries. By sharing and understanding that others have hidden fears and worries we can help each other to overcome them and develop a strong inner belief that we are confident and beautiful. If we believe this, then others will too!
