Well, parts of me are exactly what you might label them, but as a 17 year old in the year (almost) 2017, I’m ready to take a sharpie to this topic.
With my own two hands, 26 alphabetical resources, and this big heart I have (that might not be the way I thought it would grow up to be and maybe not even the way you’d like it to be), I begin this journey of “writing raw.” NO! Not naked blogging! This is me creating a space where my “bad angles” are the profile pictures of beauty and my flaws remind me how much I am loved. I’m typing this now on a laptop pressed against stomach rolls that once screamed and sometimes still whisper “you are not good enough.”
The truth is, nobody is perfect at everything: it would be valid to say I ABSOLUTELY AM NOT qualified to be on Ninja Warrior, but nothing about that short-coming makes me bad at being ME.
You see, I believe that the Creator of the whole world saw something missing and perfectly designed you and me to lack and be flooded with microscopically specific and unrepeated highs and lows.
It is that assurance that gives me the bravery to expose myself to you until you and I both find a way to reach pinnacles that inspire, fulfill, and ultimately create room for more good.
I hope we can embrace this lifestyle of self-love and give ourselves hugs when life throws punches.
I hope we can unite in what we can’t help but fight for and multiply the reasons to be our best.
I hope we can humbly grow and faithfully endure.
I hope we can walk through our darkest with shields of joy.
I hope we can learn to live more honestly and with arms wide open to love.
A year from now, I anticipate you’ll know exactly what it looks like for me to be a sister to 8, a traveling performer, a creator of art, a singer of soul stirring songs, an ever-failing perfectionist, a servant of God, a fashionista who likes sweatpants and snapbacks, and now, a writer of words I’m usually too scared to say.
This journey is going to be bold and difficult and shaky and new. I am so excited.
Thank you for watching me all these years and standing by me to hear how I made it this far, how I plan to press on, and how I believe the rest of my life will undoubtedly hold the relentless goodness of God between every imperfect inch of my average, human hands.
Your new friend,
BriellaBelle
