Completely Uncovered

When was the last time YOU sat with all of YOU without rushing to cover, correct or criticize what YOU saw?

When was the last time YOU sat with YOURself completely uncovered?

And yes, sometimes that means without clothes.

When was the last time YOU stood naked before the mirror and did not immediately begin correcting what YOU saw?

Not turning sideways.

Not pulling in YOUR stomach.

Not lifting YOUR breasts.

Not quickly reaching for a towel before YOU had to see the scars, stretch marks, softness or places where YOUR body no longer looks the way it once did.

When was the last time YOU allowed YOURself to see all of YOU?

The breasts that sag.

The stomach that tells a story.

The weight that came, left or shifted.

The skin that stretched, loosened, darkened, wrinkled or changed.

The body shaped by age, pregnancy, weight, grief, illness, stress, healing and simply living.

Some of us cover ourselves quickly not because we are cold, but because we have forgotten how to look at our own bodies without criticizing them.

We glance.

We judge.

We cover.

We have learned how to dress the body, angle it for pictures and move past the mirror without lingering long enough to meet the person staring back.

But this is the body that has carried YOU through every day of YOUR life.

Can YOU see the scars that remained, the skin that stretched and the body that changed while still recognizing YOUR full glory?

Full glory does not mean untouched or unchanged.

It means fully seen.

Some of what YOU have been calling a flaw is not a flaw at all.

A stretch mark is not a character flaw.

A scar is not something YOU owe the world an apology for.

Breasts that sit differently are not evidence that YOUR beauty has expired.

A body changed by age, birth, illness, stress or life is not a failed body.

It is a body that has lived.

That does not mean YOU must love every part of it every day.

Some days, acceptance may not sound like, “I love everything I see.”

Some days, it may simply sound like:

I will not insult this body today.

I will not hide from myself today.

I will not make my body earn the right to be treated with tenderness.

But clothing is not the only thing we use to cover ourselves.

We cover ourselves with performance.

Comparison.

Titles.

Responsibilities.

Strength.

Busyness.

Excuses.

“I’m fine.”

We present the version of ourselves we believe will be easiest for other people to understand, accept and love.

Physical nakedness reveals the parts of YOUR body YOU may struggle to accept.

Inner nakedness reveals the parts of YOURself YOU have worked just as hard to hide.

The fear.

The defensiveness.

The need to be needed.

The habit of expecting disappointment before anything has had the opportunity to go right.

The part of YOU that learned to leave before it could be left.

The part that survived by becoming someone YOU may no longer need to be.

Can YOU sit with that nakedness too?

Can YOU acknowledge YOUR greatness without shrinking it?

Can YOU say, “I am proud of myself,” without immediately naming everything YOU still need to fix?

Can YOU face YOUR flaws without allowing them to erase everything beautiful about YOU?

Many of us have been taught to make our flaws known while keeping our greatness quiet. We call it humility, but sometimes we are simply hiding.

Shrinking what is great about YOU does not make YOU humble.

It makes YOU hidden.

YOU should be able to recognize YOUR beauty without apologizing for it.

YOUR strength without explaining everything it cost YOU.

YOUR growth without acting as though it does not count because there is still more growing to do.

But accepting all of YOU does not mean calling every harmful pattern beautiful.

The sharp tongue may have protected YOU when nobody else did, but is it now cutting people who came to love YOU?

YOUR independence may have carried YOU through seasons when help never arrived, but has it made receiving love feel like weakness?

YOUR silence may have once kept the peace, but is it now keeping YOU from speaking the truth?

Some things need acceptance.

Some need healing.

Some require change.

Some need all three.

Understanding where a pattern came from does not give it permission to remain.

The version of YOU who survived deserves compassion, but survival should not be allowed to wound the life YOU are now trying to live.

Real self-acceptance is not looking at everything within YOU and deciding none of it needs to change.

It is standing uncovered, in front of the mirror and within YOURself, and telling the truth without turning away.

This is my body.

This is my story.

This is what life changed.

This is what my heart survived.

This is where I am still wounded.

This is where I have caused harm.

This is what I no longer need to hide.

And this is what I love myself enough to work on.

Two truths can exist at once:

I am worthy of love as I am.

And I still have growing to do.

YOU can appreciate YOUR body without pretending YOU feel confident every time YOU see it.

YOU can miss an earlier version of YOUR body without mistreating the one carrying YOU now.

YOU can be proud of how far YOU have come and still acknowledge where YOU remain stuck.

YOU can honor the wall that once protected YOU while deciding it is time to remove a few bricks.

Some of us have made self-love a reward reserved for a future version of ourselves.

When I lose the weight.

When the scar fades.

When my body looks the way it used to.

When I heal.

When I stop making mistakes.

When I become easier to love.

But what happens to the person standing naked in the mirror right now?

Does that version of YOU have to remain covered and unloved while doing all the work required to become someone else?

YOU should not have to become a finished product before YOU are worthy of YOUR own tenderness.

Sit with all of YOU.

The bare skin and the bare truth.

The scars that can be seen and the ones nobody knows are there.

The greatness.

The flaws.

The softness.

The strength.

The parts that survived.

The parts still learning how to live.

Look long enough to recognize YOURself without immediately searching for something to correct.

Tell the truth about what deserves acceptance.

Tell the truth about what requires accountability.

Offer grace where grace is needed.

Do the work where the work is required.

But do not keep any part of YOU outside of YOUR own love until it becomes smaller, firmer, smoother, easier, quieter or healed.

When was the last time YOU allowed YOUR naked self to be fully seen…

Even by YOU?