10 Things I Like About Me

 

   My last post listed all the things I would change about my body if I could. 

   The friends who love me thought I was waaaaay too hard on myself and my friend Susan shot me a text that said, "Just read your blog. Now write 10 things you like about yourself." 

   My friend Phyll wrote me "Why are you so hard on yourself? None of the things you mention have anything whatsoever to do with you being worthy of love...," and that I should "SNAP! out of it." 

   I told them both, "Hey, I was just trying to be funny. Who wants to read about Little Mary Sunshine baking cookies?"

   My friend Sabrina (and I won't quote her here because I shouldn't) basically said I left out only one body part I DIDN'T talk about (you get my drift. HEY, There's got to be SOME mystery, right?)

   So, I thought about this. 

   And I thought and I thought and I thought.

   Hmmmm, 10 things I like about me. 

Well, the post wasn't all negative. I said I liked my

   1. eyes

   2. teeth

and that I wouldn't change my 

   3. neck (yet)

So, that leaves seven things left to list that I like about me.

Hmmmm...

   4. I like that I have my health. A new friend, who happens to have MS, told me on New Year's Eve that I'm lucky I have "two legs I CAN dance with." She was right, and 

that was a very powerful statement. Health is everything, isn't it? Both my parents suffered from cancer, and that could be a "Yet" for me or for anyone, so yes, I am happy to have my healthy body, stubby legs, pear shape and all. I may not look like the magazines want me to look, but my parts work, and I am grateful for that. So, I like that I am healthy.

   5. I like that I have overcome some big obstacles in my life. This means I am a survivor. I've been through some pretty big and pretty bad things. Most of these are too personal to mention, but believe me when I tell you that I have come out the other side of bad stuff, I have. I like that I'm a survivor.

   6. I like that I'm a fighter. In order to survive, sometimes we have to keep going, keep fighting, until we see the light at the end of the tunnel. I've always considered myself a very non-assertive person, but when the chips are down I'll fight as hard as I can for as long as I can to complete something I believe in. And that doesn't mean the little things...because I hate to fight or argue. These are BIG life things that I'd never stop believing in myself winning or coming out with a positive end that I'm talking about.

   7. I like that I'm honest. I wasn't always honest, and that got me in to big trouble. I wasn't honest because I didn't like myself, and felt that the truth about me might be too much for me (and the world) to handle. Now, I'm so IN-YOUR-FACE honest, that frankly, I think most people want me to shut up most of the time. But, honesty is a good thing. You never have to go back and re-check your facts to keep your story straight.

   8. I think I am a great mom. I have kids who I deeply love. Absolutely, like every other mom on the planet, there are days I wonder, "What am I doing?" or I think, "Did I just channel my mother/father/grandmother with THAT answer?" I want my kids to know love and safety and be fair and honest and kind to other people. I think I'm doing a great job at teaching them and learning WITH them about life. My kids open up my eyes to the world that I didn't get to see as a kid, and I am a better human being because they are in my life. Sure, I get tired, and I get frustrated, but so do my kids! I don't know all the answers, and lots of times I'm wrong. And this brings me to number 

   9. I like that I can say I am sorry and admit that I am wrong. I am REALLY good at doing this. Why fight? Why argue? Why be stubborn for the fact of being stubborn? It took my mom 15 years to apologize to me for something so small and insignificant - I was amazed. And if you knew my mother, you'd know that was a BIG DEAL on her part. So, for that, I'm grateful that I am willing to say I am sorry when I am wrong, and grateful she did when she relented having to always be "right." I'm so glad I never felt I always had to be right!

   10. I am a really good friend. I consider this my best attribute. I would, and still will, do anything for my friends. "Friends are the family we choose for ourselves" is one of my favorite sayings. Over the last two years of my divorce, my friends and family have carried me. They have listened to me blabber and cry and moan and question, and they just kept letting me talk. I know for sure they wouldn't have done that if they didn't love me; which meant, that at some point, I had reciprocated that love in order to be of value to them in their lives. I have the best friends on the planet. I was thinking about it - everyone on my FaceBook page is there because either earlier in my life or later, they befriended me; they meant something to me; they added to my value as a human being. I have such a group of strong women who have carried me through some horrible things - both when I was small up to now. They loved me when I didn't have the power to love myself, and they kept loving me until I did. They still do it, daily. I have some men in my life who are fantastic friends to me, too. High school friends who I got in trouble with, Coast Guard buddies who stay in contact and were part of my Search and Rescue Boat crew - guys I needed to have my back always had my back on the water, and later, men who were kind and gentlemen and offered friendship and help when I needed it.  I am so lucky in that I have a wide array of friends. They come in all shapes and sizes - short, tall, gay, straight, young and old. Because of my friends (and many of my family members - you know who you are - are blood relations but really first and foremost, my friends), I am a better human being. Or at least I try to be. I wouldn't want to let them down, ever. Having lost a few friends to death, you realize the value of friendships and the people who love you even more.

   They say that "Friends are a reflection of yourself." If this is really the case, then I have to be the most beautiful human being on the planet because I have the most beautiful friends in the world. That is the honest truth. I like that I am a good friend and that I have really GREAT friends.

   LUCKY ME! I was actually able to name 10 things I like about me! Didn't think I'd be able to do it, but I did!  (It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be - really).

   Now, can all you lovely friends just get off my back so I can I just start making fun of myself again JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT?

Cheerth!