Photo by LYNDSI PHOTOGRAPHY

That comparison thing? Just stop it.

That thing where you look at someone else’s life/style/home/body/ability/following/influence/ecetera and then you compare them to yourself…? Just stop that. You aren’t doing yourself any favors with that kind of thing, dear heart.

Comparison can only give you two things:

insecurity
pride

And none of need any more of either of those things, right? I surely do not. Both insecurity and pride will keep you from being fully alive as yourself, and this world desperately needs more women who are fully alive and fully embracing who they are…not striving after who someone else thinks or says they should be/look/live, not striving to become like who someone else is.

So just stop it, myself and yourself. Look at your life and all that you are and be content. You lack for nothing. You are lovely, loved, and known. You are not above anyone, nor are you beneath anyone. You are you, and that, my dear friends, is all that you need to be. The striving needs to cease. The competition needs to stop. Comparison replaced with contentment. Look at your life and all that you are and see the beauty that is there.

What about you: do you feel like comparison is a fight in your own heart as well? 

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Dear reader,

So most times I love to share myself and our life with you…but sometimes I have a hard time sharing myself and our life because, I don’t know…I like my privacy? I do love this blog…it’s fun, it’s a creative outlet, a hobby really. I feel like my blogging has changed a lot since I’ve first started two and a half years ago…but then again, I’ve changed since I started blogging two and a half years ago. When I first started Beautiful Undefined, I was struggling with some major battles in my heart and mind. I was massively insecure, battling a lot of self hatred, constantly feeling awful and ugly and dealing with the reality of having had to come face to face with my biggest fear. I was wrestling with the reality that I had an eating disorder that had taken me into a place I didn’t want to be mentally and physically. And then there I was…over twenty pounds heavier than I was six months earlier at our wedding. Those pounds were for a good reason, yes, and this physical healing and healthy weight gave me the ability to conceive and bring into the world one of the sweetest gifts…my little Ayla June. When I started this blog, I was in an intense season of trying to figure out who I was, and while I don’t claim to never have my battles with body image and food issues today, it is amazing how much freedom Jesus has given me in this area. I’m still figuring out who I am, for reals, but thankfully I know a whole lot of more of who that is these days than I ever have.

So I’ve changed in these two years. I’ve found more security in Jesus, more acceptance of myself. I’ve become a mother, which is obviously the biggest life-change. We’ve moved to a new state, found a new church, made new friends, learned so many new things about life in general and life in God and life with each other. It’s a good season, these years that we are in. Not always easy, but so incredibly good.

I’ve wrestled so much lately with what I want this blog and my online spaces to be. I have my days of feeling endlessly inspired and full of ideas for content or fun things to share…and then days of literally ready to just be done with it all because I feel conflicted with finding balance in sharing life but not over-sharing, offering inspiration but also being real and honest, highlighting the beautiful, sacred moments without projecting that I have a perfect life. I’m a big all-or-nothing-er kind of person, and so I’ve wrestled with that in my blogging and online spaces…and it’s easier for me to jump out of something that potentially presents a conflict. Thankfully I have a good man in my life who talks me off those ledges and helps me to understand that it is possible to find balance, and just because there is a potential for conflict doesn’t mean you have to run away from something.

So. This blog of mine is here for me, for you. Thank you for reading and commenting and connecting with me on these online spaces! I’ll leave you with a little survey, and I would LOVE to have you take my READERS SURVEY at the end of this post so I can hear from you in what you like to see and read here!

Five favorite books:
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
Captivating by Stasi Eldredge
Living From the Unseen by Wendy Backlund
Love After Marriage by Barry and Lori Byrne
In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

Five favorite products:
Gold Clover Tallow Balm
Great Lakes Collagen Hydrolysate
Plexus XFactor vitamins
Herbamare seasoning
Younique 3D Fiber Mascara

Five things I eat (almost) every day:
Sweet potatoes
Avocado
Dark chocolate
Apples and bananas
Coffee (i guess i technically don’t eat coffee, but…it should still count)

Five favorite websites:
Darling
Sprouted Kitchen
Homesong
The Kitchn
Pinterest 

Five things I do every day:
Fix the bed
Kiss my husband
Drink coffee
Scroll Instagram
Take vitamins and probiotics

Ok, I did a survey…now it’s your turn! I’d love if you would take a minute to answer a few questions about who you are and what you like to see on this blog. It would be so helpful and inspirational to me to hear from YOU.

::CLICK TO TAKE THE SURVEY::

Thank you thank you!