I love ME!

Well, let me begin by revealing that I'm one of those girls who has a child-like look about her. For many years I was frustrated and annoyed as guys described me as "cute, "sweet" and "adorable", while other girls enjoyed compliments such as "hot", "gorgeous" and "attractive." Among my 20-something year old friends, I was the teen-faced girl who was always presumed to be the 'baby' of the group, though I was in fact the eldest. This totally drove me up the wall.

 Not surprisingly, I spent tonnes of hard-earned cash on attempts to appear more mature. I purchased heaps of make-up, fashion accessories and religiously watched TV shows on beauty and grooming, in the hopes of bringing out the "lady" in me. While I received many compliments on my dramatic transformation from "cute" to "sassy", I hated the hassle it took to achieve that look on a daily basis.

Being a bit of a tom-boy, I thoroughly disliked spending hours combing, brushing, curling and blow-drying my hair every morning. I abhorred having to touch up my make up every few hours during the day. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy getting dolled up from time to time, but I'm just not a fashionister. I'm one of those girls who can relate to Sandra Bullock's character in Miss Congeniality 1.

After numerous mishaps: tripping in a pair of stilettos, getting my hair caught in a pair of big earrings, having my make-up run on a hot summer day, I realized that the whole "Supermodel" look just wasn't for me. There was nothing wrong with being "cute", "sweet" and "adorable." In fact, I'm pretty sure there are lots of "hot" women who would love to look as fresh-faced as they did during their teen years - minus the acne and pimples.

The moral of my short tale is this: just be You! Love yourself the way you are - tall, short, dark-skinned, light-skinned, freckled or bespectacled. Maybe you've been told you speak or laugh kinda strange - that's okay. Being different doesn't make you inferior - it just shows how unique you are. You are special, authentic, God's very own masterpiece.

In romantic relationships, don't lose the essence of who you are in an attempt to impress your partner. Stay true to yourself, keep it real. If he or she can't love you for who you are, they're probably wrong for you. There's an amazing guy or girl out there who is looking for someone who walks, talks, laughs, sings, dresses, jokes around, works, plays and looks just like you.

Go for your dreams, reach for the stars.Do all those wonderful and exciting things you've always wanted to do.  Travel, sky-dive, start a business, audition for an acting or singing part, learn a foreign language - whatever your dream, chase it! A certain quote by Farrah Gray caught my eye the other day. It goes like this, "Build your dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs."

 Don't spend so much time being what other people want you to be that you forget who you really are and what you want for your life.When you love yourself, you become a powerful and attractive force that makes things happen and frees others to love themselves also.

In closing, I'd like to make a toast: here's to being 100 percent YOU - phenomenal,outstanding, genuine and amazing you!