Confidence Building

I can tear myself down in less time than it takes to ruin a fresh manicure: my worst features (all of them), what’s wrong with my body (everything), my weight, my worst habits, how little patience I have, what little self-discipline, what a bad friend/wife/daughter/mother/writer I am, yadda yadda yadda. I can give you an itemized list.

How about you?

According to all the articles and studies and casual girl talk at corner bars all over the country, or even the world, it seems most women have that capability. We bond over our cosmos by commiserating with each other about all of our worst (perceived) faults. We know it’s not healthy, but we keep doing it. It’s a compulsion.

But what about the other side of that coin? Ask a woman to name her best feature or personality trait, and most will stammer and stutter and take at least a few minutes to come up with anything, often apologetically, as though we shouldn’t like anything about ourselves or be proud of any part of our bodies or personalities.

How sad is that? Pretty sad.

There are those few amazing and confident women out there who would look at this blog post and say, “That’s not me! I’m all kinds of wonderful, and let me tell you why…” before enumerating all their fabulousness, bullet point by bullet point. And their audience would be split between those who were envious of their confidence and those who thought them too full of themselves, because of course women should never be so obviously proud.

It’s haaaaaaaaard to break out of that mindset, but we owe it to ourselves to stop putting ourselves, and each other, down.

In that spirit, I’m going to start us off by shutting up my inner bitch and listing my best physical features, because yes-I-do-have-some, damn it! (Personality traits are for another post.) Then you go. And once we’re done, maybe we’ll feel a little bit better, and a little more kindly toward ourselves and each other, even if it’s just for today. It’s a start.

*Taking a deep breath…*

Ready? Here we go:

• My eyes are a pretty shade of green that sometimes turn almost blue depending on what I’m wearing or what I’m feeling
• I have a friendly smile
• My ears are cute
• I have a nice nose
• I like my long, curly hair
• The skin behind my ears, inside my elbows, and along the small of my back is baby soft
• Even though it makes buying shoes challenging, I have always loved the high arches on  my feet because it made them perfect for ballet. Plus, back in the day, I had near-perfect turnout.

Okay, girls. Now you. Tell me your best features in the comments, and don’t be shy. Be proud! You are a miracle.