No amount of self improvement can make up for any lack of self acceptance

When I saw these words pop up on my screen, I stopped for a moment to let them sink in. I was stunned by the weight of its truth. Only a short while before that, I had read a post about how a lady did all she could for the perfect body- work out, organic foods, yoga- and still wasn't happy when she looked at herself in the mirror. There was something still missing that had nothing to do with physical routines and nutritionist appointments.I can't remember when I wasn't advocating for the self, the relevance of sitting with ourselves, knowing who we are and loving what we find anyway. Now we've fully come to terms with the fact that perfection is a paper-town. It doesn't exist. It's all up in up our heads and no one ever really arrives there. But now I'm so sure it isn't enough knowing. We must unlearn the habit of attacking our bodies, our worth on the broken scale of the world.It's worth repeating we can't work on what's outside to fix what's inside. Regardless of the heights we reach, the badges we collect in our lifetime, if we're not giving ourselves love, we're losing out on the big picture.We'll be doing ourselves great harm if we start to believe accomplishments can feed the hunger of self love and acceptance. We don't need more light shinning on us to attain an appreciation of ourselves. We don't so much as need the glory. We only need to be and give ourselves the grace to become.I want to live a life so accepted by myself that no amount of outside validation makes up for what I know and hold to be true about who I am. There's an endless wave of how the world would have us be, have us love, have us live our lives. None of this matters if the person in the mirror is always an enemy, always under attack, always in need of some sort of fine-tuning.Here's what you don't know- for every moment you rob yourself of the joy of self-acceptance, you shut the doors close on yourself, you keep yourself out and knocking for a long time. You give yourself less than you actually deserve. There's nothing sadder than being your own obstacle, standing in your own way and waiting on someone else to clear the woods.Get out of the woods. Let your heart breathe. Love is hungry. Open the doors and slowly, gracefully, let love in. You're ready. You're deserving. You're filling up on good things and letting the emptiness die. It's a good life. Live it well and remember to hold your hand.