Juanita “Nita” Chester, RN
From my earliest memories I have compared myself to other women. Am I as pretty, smart, skinny, curvy? Does my hair look that good? Are my clothes as stylish? On and on and on. Although some may not be as willing to admit to this bad habit, I think there are many others like me.
But why? Why do we do this to ourselves? For some, it starts close to home with our parents; our mothers to be exact. An argument can be made that they are insecure so they teach their daughters (as little girls) that we need to be perfect. Almost all of us have at one time heard, “don’t be so loud,” “don’t say that,” or something similar. Maybe we’re encouraged to put on a façade and make it appear that everything is all good! Is that when the comparison game starts?
I think somewhere deep down we know in our little childhood lives that we are living a lie. Some things or even everything is not good. We feel a need to pretend to be something that we’re not. Then we begin to look at everyone else and we want to be like them because obviously we can’t be ourselves. Some women are even taught from a young age that “little girls need to be seen and not heard.” She can’t be real because real doesn’t look very good to others. But who defines good?
I encourage every single adult woman to be real! There are no perfect women, no perfect families, no perfect kids, no perfect relationships and on and on and on. It is all just real and when we embrace the real we have acceptance. Acceptance that you need to either make a change or to “just be” who God intended you to be.
Women! We have been divinely created! Maybe we have to be put through the fire a time or two to bring out those impurities but if we hang in there we will become shining precious metal; a jewel in the eye of our Maker.
Juanita “Nita” Chester, RN serves as Director of Nursing at The Next Door.
