& your eyes must do some raining if you're ever gonna grow

DAY TEN - Lesson Learned

What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward?

Yay I love this :) I think by far the biggest thing I learned this year about myself is acceptance. I think this is the first time in my life that I actually can truly say I love myself and I am not insecure about my appearance or anything. This is nearly impossible in our world to find I think. People that are comfortable in their own skin and not comparing their bodies, personalities, pay checks, etc to everyone else is practically unheard of. But I have finally reached it. No more thoughts of "I'll be beautiful when I lose 10 pounds." No. I am beautiful right now. I may not be the skinniest or the prettiest but I'm not the fattest or the ugliest either. I love who I am.

I think my strength is something that always surprises me. I am a very emotionally strong person. And this year more than ever I have stopped taking people's shit. I think this quote sums it up beautifully:

Any time you sincerely want to make a change, the first thing you must do is to raise your standards. When people ask me what really changed my life, I tell them that absolutely the most important thing was changing what I demanded of myself. I wrote down all the things I would no longer accept in my life, all the things I would no longer tolerate, and all the things that I aspired to become.

And I haven't looked back since.