let your freak flag fly! (sawyer wakes up full of awesomesauce)

Say that five times fast (let your freak flag fly)….yeah…I can hardly make it past the first time too!

I came across an awesome awesome post the other day entitled Waking Up Full of Awesome over at  Pigtail Pals whose mission is to redefine the way we think about girls. From their website :

Pigtail Pals is dedicated to changing the way we think about girls. Our blog educates parents on media literacy, marketing, sexualization, gender stereotypes, and body image.

The gist of the post is that somewhere along the way, many of us go from a place of loving ourselves – our body, our strength, our intelligence – to a more negative place which may include feelings of…I’m not good enough, I’m not smart enough, my belly is too big, no one likes me, I’m ugly, why am I not skinny like all the other girls, etc…and we no longer wake up each day feeling awesome and ready to take on the world. And over time it becomes more the norm than the habit…to wake up not feeling awesome.

I was one of those girls. I still kind of am if I don’t fight against it constantly. I try not to; I’ve come so far in my journey of accepting who I am including my pot belly but that doesn’t mean I don’t have days where I feel like I’m not enough…I’m not good enough, I’m not smart enough, I’m not skinny enough….I’m not enough, I’m not enough, I’M NOT ENOUGH!

But of course I am enough….we all are enough just as we are. Why do we think we’re not? What has happened to us along the way? Why dont many of us wake up feeling awesome about ourselves? And if we don’t feel awesome, what are we doing about it? Something? Anything?

Towards the end of the post, the author shares a photo of her daughter in all her awesome glory and wonders if there will come a day when her daughter doesn’t feel like she’s awesome and I couldn’t help but liken it to my own daughter (and some of the fears I have as a parent), Sawyer, who is 7 going on 30 (we told her she can’t move out of the house, date, or get married until she’s 40).

Sawyer is so full of awesomeness and she’s not afraid to show it….at all. I didn’t have to dig through photos long to find the ones below that are so quintessentially Sawyer. She loves to play “her” version of dress-up and it absolutely cracks us up. Who, but Sawyer, could put together these awesome combinations? Because they are awesomely unique as is Sawyer. And we want to encourage her to remain awesomely unique and true to herself.

But are we, her parents, enough? The rose-colored glasses side of me says absolutely but the more practical side of me says NO (for all the reasons mentioned in Pigtail Pals mission) which makes me really glad that others feel the same way and are trying to do something about it.

So thank you, Pigtail Pals. Thank you from Sawyer’s dad and I, from Sawyer’s 7-year old self, from Sawyer’s teenage self, and Sawyer’s adult self. You’re doing great work and I will help spread the word.

And may all of us wake up feeling awesome!