Good morning BEAUTIFUL!

Happy Sunday! today is December 12,2021 and Day 18. I awakened to a text message “Good morning beautiful”. After spending yet another weekend alone, I could look at this negatively since I was alone, or positively because it was the first message of my day. I simply allowed it to be a positive start to my day. With a smile on my face, I continued with my morning routine.

As I look in the mirror, the good morning beautiful still rings in my ear. Am I beautiful? Do I see beauty? Do others see beauty when they look at me? An individual’s beauty is subject to the opinion of others, however, why does what others think even matter? All I saw in the mirror was sad, tired eyes. When I looked too long, I saw my loneliness. I started asking myself “how beautiful can I be?”. After all, beautiful people aren’t lonely, right? All different people are lonely. All races, genders, religions, sizes, shapes, ethnicities, etc. have problems. Admittedly, I began to associate my being alone with me being unattractive.

When we are down on ourselves, it is easy to seek validation from others. We sometimes want to hear that we are attractive. We want to feel desired, needed, missed, loved and valued. For as long as I can remember, I never needed that validation; I validated myself. Gradually, after growing tired of hearing that I made my husband feel as if I didn’t need him, I lost my independence. Now, I find myself needing that validation at times to feel that I am still attractive.

Thinking about the good morning beautiful, I realized that although it was thoughtful and invoked a genuine smile, it isn’t a necessity. I need no validation from others to confirm my beauty. Whether alone or in a relationship, lonely or comforted, my beauty, just like my happiness, comes from within. God has given each of us the ability to love and be loved. When we are able to love ourselves first and see what is inside of us, we can truly understand our value without needing validation. So, with just fourteen days remaining until Christmas, although the realization of lost loved ones and failed relationships are fresh, the happiness, joy, love, and peace of the Christmas holiday season is still possible. Staying in the BLACK and positive for 2022 is an attainable goal. The first step is to do as I did. Take a good, long look in the mirror and start the remainder of these days off in a positive mindset and say to yourself Good Morning BEAUTIFUL!