One of two events that CHANGED My Life!

SO seems like a lifetime years ago, I was reading for whatever crazy reason Mademoiselle Magazine*.  I came across an article by then senior editor, Ellen Weller.  As a teenager, I had struggled with the awkward weight and height imbalances like we all do, and at that point not unlike now I was wider than taller....so I had some issues with self-esteem.  Here is the article that forever changed my perception of myself.  I hope that perhaps it can help you as well:

"As much as you can, also stop wondering what kind of impression you're making every time you meet someone.  Stop doubting that your sexy side exists, or thinking that it's something that's alive and breathing only when you're out on a date.  Think instead of the way you feel when you're inside your house, all alone, the sky is blue with no clouds, and it suddenly feels like warm weather~even though it is still March and raw outside.  You open the windows a little; you stand and stretch like a cat and it feels like lust and confidence stirring in you.  You feel the equal of any curvaceous sexpot, or better - you're more dimensional, you've got more soul, and at that moment it doesn't matter a good hoot what people at the office or your mother or the mailman thinks of you.  All that counts is the satisfied image you have of yourself at this moment, how sure you are this second that you are desirable and desirous.  That little current of human electricity surges through you.  Now:   Take that feeling, that conviction, that self-assurance, however tentative it may seem; take it out into the world."

SO, although I am sitting here looking more like Susan Boyle but feeling like Marilyn Monroe thanks to my wonderful husband, here is what I learned:

Sex-appeal is not defensive; it is NOT self-obsessed:  It is outer-oriented, but eminates from within.

Marilyn once said:

"No one ever told me I was pretty when I was a little girl. All little girls should be told they're pretty, even if they aren't."  I say, beauty aka self-esteem is in the eye of the beholder and as mothers it is our job to make our daughters behold themselves for the wonderful worth and potential they have-not to feed or foster their insecurities or pacify ours.

(*It was on page 236 - which issue which year I don't know...lol)