My heart knows this to be true…

I know that my heart hurts as I listen to you pick yourself apart & I wonder who told you that your weight is your worth.

I know that while I see your beautiful soul, you are listening to that nasty voice within, the one that tells you lies of not being good enough.

I know that while your focused on what society has convinced you to be wrong with you, I see your beautiful smile, I hear your words & I adore your kindness.

I know that Imperfection only really exists in a world full of unrealistic comparisons.

I know that we can all think & tell you how amazing you are, until there are no words left & it wont change how you feel about yourself because your inner mean girl is louder.

I know that you appear to those around you to be confident & secure but I see you, I see your worry of what they will think & the consuming stress of maintaining appearances, I see the heaviness of your burden.

I know that my whole heart wishes you could see your beauty as I see you.

I know that it makes my eyes start to fill when I think about you & how I wish I could hug you in a way that you could feel my love & gratitude for you, just as you are.

I know it makes my breath feel heavy when I think about how unkind you are to yourself, when really you are longing for peace.

I know that it makes me sad when I see you struggle against the knowing you have inside your body. The one telling you to just be with your self for a moment, so you can hear your souls yearning. Yearning of self-love & nurturing. The one where you make peace with your inner mean girl & take the hand of your hurt and scared little girl within and tell her she is safe now.

I know that I feel concern for young girls that know no other way than to strive for unattainable perfection, to offer their body in order to be liked & I feel gutted because I see you. I see you on the edge & in the background trying to fit in, while trying to hide. I see you fighting against what feels ok & comfortable within your body, fighting against your screaming intuition, in order to fit in, I wish you knew how amazing you already are.

I know my heart feels such a heaviness that if I allowed it, it would turn to despair. It feels overwhelmed at thoughts of such communal hurt. The energy spent on self-hatred & loathing. The value placed on superficial beauty, while true beauty goes unseen.

I know that we live in a world where we are born & raised on a story, the same one our mother, grand mothers and those that came before were told. It is the story where our worth & value is based upon appearances. Where comments such as "make an effort to have your hair and face done nicely and no one will notice your body" or "you are to big to dance".  This story has constantly striped us of our worth & joy. This story has been told because no one realised that it was ok to say, your body is vessel that carries your soul. 

I know that after I remember the make-believe story, my head raises, I stand a little taller than before & I vow that I will be someone for change. I will follow my deepest calling to remind woman & girls that we are not here to be looked but to live incredible lives. We are here to contribute to our communities, to allow ourselves & each other compassion as we learn a new way. To help each other up when we stumble, instead of pushing each other over to to be seen. To lead with kindness & to help the world see that true beauty resides within the soul.

I know that with enough change the story of because you are a woman, you should, you must & you can't are all a story of once upon a time in a world that no longer exists xx