Accepting *All* of Me

I’m working on being an example of letting go of shame and embracing *all* of me, including my limb differences. I want to give others the courage to let their limb differences show. They are *beautiful*. YOU are beautiful. And I love you!

(I posted the above paragraph on my personal Facebook page yesterday, and it ended up leading to the following post I just posted on my personal page. Man, that felt empowering – but also scary. I wanted to share on my blog too because I’m learning so many valuable lessons lately. I thought you might find them helpful too.)

“Yesterday I spontaneously had the idea to post about letting go of shame with showing my limb differences. That’s how my writings come to me, pretty spontaneously. I was looking at a picture I bought that said ‘I see your true colors and that’s why I love you. Don’t be afraid to let them show.’ I thought it would be a cool idea to put my limb differences next to that picture and make a post.

I did realize I had hairy legs, and that showed in the picture. I really wanted to post it, though, as I felt the message in the post was a good message. I had a little thought that maybe people might judge my leg hair, but I felt like the post was more important.

It ended up being another lesson too, like I said in the post, to accept *all* of me, leg hair and all. And try my best not to let other people’s judgment affect me. I have female friends who also don’t shave their legs. It’s a personal (valid) choice.

I did actually consider cropping the picture to show less of my hairy legs, but I thought, who am I doing that for? Me, or other people? I guess maybe, honestly me in a way, so I wouldn’t have to potentially deal with other people’s judgment.

But that’s also something I’m working on, not editing myself to make other people comfortable. I don’t shave my legs sometimes, and that’s a legit, valid choice. I can still make an awesome, impactful post without ‘hiding’ my legs, or my limb differences. So it ended up being an even more valuable lesson about, like I said, being more comfortable accepting *all* of me and not being so concerned with what other people think.

It’s still a process (even posting this feels a little anxiety provoking / vulnerable), but I feel like by deciding to still post this, and the hairy leg pictures yesterday, I’m taking steps in the right direction in letting go of caring too much about what other people think.”