HastyWords's Blog, page 52

#BeReal – LINDSAY FISCHER

Please welcome Lindsay Fischer to #BeReal.

On Reinvention, Releasing Reality and Whole-Hearted Living

I’ve never felt more alive than the day I decided to take the screen off and be myself, releasing stuck pieces of reality from the filter used as my defense and watching the withheld, eager remnants descend in the very first pour. Instead of pretending I was what everyone wanted me to be, it was time to be myself.

I left teaching, a career I dedicated myself to for 8 years, only to face the unknowns associated with entrepreneurship. I wanted to write about injustices I’d survived. I wanted to share my truth so the isolation I felt when hiding didn’t latch on to anyone else who might be living in a similar silence. And while those things were exactly what I wanted, they didn’t become a reality until I realized they were also the things I truly needed, and I needed to let go of everyone else’s expectations in order to get there. That, my friends, was terrifying. However, all of the wishing I could say what I really meant and act how I really felt became possible when I stopped worrying about the reactions of others more than I cared about my own.

No more hide, just seek.

Because what’s real to me is seeking answers to life’s most uncomfortable questions, knowing discomfort leads to growth (and growth leads to unmistakably glorious moments), and learning – constantly – how to be the best human I’m able to be.  To be real means to always check your intentions and actions and decide if they match up with your soul’s purpose now and five years from now. Whatever I do today I want the old Lindsay to look at and say, “Damn girl, you did good.”

When I am honest, open and constantly exploring, I am a better person, partner, and family member because I don’t feel as if I have to pretend to be anything for anyone. There’s no family filter, no façade in front of my spouse, I show them the worst and best of me and they’ve learned to accept it all, all because I put my faith in the fact that they loved me the way they claimed.

I’m not a faithful person in terms of organized religion. I can’t be certain what happens to my soul after it leaves my physical form, but I know the feeling I get when I make heart-centered choices is worth pursuing anyway, the internal warmth a cue I am honoring my own spirit and a call to keep moving toward what best serves me and the world.

It’s a scary concept to let go of the fear that protects us from disappointment, shame and guilt less likely to surface when we restrict our actions. If we just don’t try, there’s no way we can fail, right? This theory is learned at such a young age that by the time we’re adults we don’t even realize when we’ve stymied ourselves.  This is why, I believe, so many of us hear words like authenticity and become annoyed, puffing our chests because we don’t want to look in the mirror and face the hard truth that we water ourselves down so we don’t disappoint anyone…

…except ourselves.

We can pick apart every single action, we can analyze intent, and we can judge people unlike us for damn near anything. Or, we can choose to believe everyone is doing their best and trying just as hard as us. Though it might appear they aren’t, we can assume unseen hurdles have hindered their path.

My belief is that self-love can’t be successful when we only live life on the surface. We cannot love others when we challenge their every action, especially if we don’t first serve ourselves (and trust in our own movements), and we can’t serve ourselves if we aren’t – at the very root of our existence – doing the things that make us so uniquely crafted.

Being real means understanding that in order to live the life you’re destined for, you have to let go of the bullshit so many people will try to pin on you, to release should and could and embrace would.

What would you do if you could not fail?

What would life look like if you loved yourself more?

How would the world be impacted if you were your true self?

Being real – for me – began the day I reinvented my life and has become a daily choice. One worthy of dedicating time to, one that has only grown each relationship I am in, and one that I emphatically advocate for in every soul’s life.

Lindsay Fischer is a trauma-tested author who writes about her own experiences to help others feel less alone. A former English teacher and dance coach, a domestic violence survivor, and – now – a seemingly infertile Myrtle, she refuses to be silent about the things that change our lives. For her, those issues are domestic violence and infertility. 

Lindsay Fischer graduated from Missouri State University with a Bachelor of Science in secondary education, English. Life got messy when she fell in love with a man who would become her abuser, and it pulled her from the classroom. After three years of trauma therapy, she saw an opportunity to use her voice against injustices and shame-filled adversity, blogging under the pseudonym Sarafina Bianco since 2009. She revealed her real identity in 2015 when her memoir, The House on Sunset, was re-released.

Her new book, The Two Week Wait Challenge: A Sassy Girl’s Guide to Surviving the TWW , will be released August 1st, 2016.

She currently lives with her husband and three dogs in St. Louis, Missouri.

Tagged: #BeReal, explore, Living, Reality, reinvention, relationships, Searching, Self Confidence, Self Discovery

#BeReal – DREW SHELDON

Please welcome Drew Sheldon to #BeReal.

I couldn’t believe it when Hasty invited me to take part in #BeReal, I was quick to say yes. I was not, however, quick to write this. Writing has been quite a slog recently. The more I work at being real, the more I struggle to continue.

I started blogging because I wanted to let my truth out into the world. Most of the time people are wonderfully supportive and encouraging. I feel incredibly fortunate considering all the horror stories I hear of fellow bloggers (especially women) being trolled and harassed. Occasionally, though, someone will quietly comment or send a private message that makes me re-think it all.

I have written here and there about my history of abuse. I endured it for much of my childhood and have further experienced it at times as an adult. Like many abuse survivors, I learned how not to be real and to do whatever it takes to hide the truth. We are so often made to believe that it’s our fault and that people will hate us if they find out. I try to fight against that conditioning, but like I said, I occasionally receive a comment that reactivates it, sometimes strongly.

One example happened this last Christmas. I published a deeply personal post about my mom and how her generous spirit used to shine during her favorite holiday. In it, I mentioned that family issues left me with few material artifacts from my mom after her passing. I did not mention that was the fault of my abusive older sister, but she felt compelled to comment on the post even though we haven’t spoken in nearly two decades. She said nothing about my vague mention of her. She simply tried to paint my mom as a villain rather than confront the truth about herself.

Abusers hate for the truth to be told. If they can’t defend their actions, they will try to distract, shifting the blame or at least the attention to others. It’s probably not even entirely conscious much of the time. I’ve never known an abuser who recognized themselves as such, and they probably don’t want to accept that reality. I have known them to tell whatever lies will suit their purpose, even and perhaps especially to themselves.

I learned this same habit and have known many other survivors to do the same. It hurts to think of the ones we love as abusers, and we do our best to defend them. Being real, however, requires me to do different no matter how much it hurts.

None of this should be taken as a claim that I’m innocent. I’ve certainly done hurtful things. I’ve participated in hazing and other behaviors I later recognized to be abusive. So much of the time, it was driven by fear and a desire to fit in, but that is no excuse. Just like with the people who abused me, it was never my intent to hurt anyone, but that doesn’t change the fact that I did.

Recognizing my imperfection is a prime motivation for being real. I want to examine my life and get better. When a former lover told me I had said and done hurtful things, I begged her to tell me all about that. Unfortunately, she didn’t tell me anything, and I’ve often had trouble getting any helpful thoughts on this. I’m lucky that some people in my life are quite open and honest with me, never hesitating to tell me uncomfortable truths. On the other hand, it seems much of the feedback I do get is discouragement from speaking my truth, and that’s not a request I can honor.

It’s been a struggle for me to write lately. The more truth I write, the more I realize I still have to write. A lot of it is pretty scary for me, and I’m sure some people will not be happy about it. I’m over it, though. I’m committed to this mission to #BeReal and tell my truth, regardless of who likes it or hates it. I’m really grateful to Hasty for this reminder and encouragement. I know my realest self is my best self, and I will not stop working toward that.




Drew Sheldon is a disabled veteran and a feminist. A survivor of numerous traumas and PTSD sufferer, he advocates passionately for his fellow survivors and all people struggling with mental illness. He was raised by a single mother whom he dearly misses. He currently lives under the rule of his beautiful kitty Francesca.
Tagged: #BeReal, Abuse, ABUSIVE, Emotional, Family, ptsd, relationships, Searching, Survivor, Truth

DRAGONFLIES AND CHOPSTICKS

Many years ago I bought my 7 year old daughter an  Oragami kit.  After dinner one night she decided to open it.  She made me a cup and a paper airplane.  I remember thinking to myself how fun it looked and asked her to hand me the Oragami book so I could find something amazing to make.

How hard can it be?

I believed I was more than capable of following instructions, so I proceeded to find something rather amazing so I could wow my daughter.  I finally settled on this rather difficult looking Dragonfly.

I thought to myself,

I will Instagram my amazing abilities when I am finished and show the world my Oragami prowess.

Dang those Oragami papers were tiny.  “Turn on the brighter light please!” I asked my daughter.  I sat down at the coffee table in her tiny chair and proceeded to fold, turn, flip, crease, pull, turn, pinch, pucker.  I was on a roll and then, on step 17, I realized I was stuck.

Where did I make a wrong fold or misplaced pucker?  All I know is that I sat staring at what resembled a wadded up piece of paper. The dragonfly didn’t even have wings yet.  There were at least 80 more steps to complete.

My ex husband and daughter were talking but I had tuned them out. I was determined. I was FOCUSED.  Maybe 20 minutes went by with me looking from the picture in the book to the mess in my hands.

Finally, I decided to call time of death.

I let out a very loud exasperated sigh and threw it across the table.  No matter how much confidence we have in our ability, or how focused we are, the result will sometimes inevitably be failure.

But on that night my daughter taught me a very important lesson.

She walked over to the folded, creased, pinched, wadded, crumpled, TINY, piece of paper and picked it up.  She looked at it very carefully for about a minute or so as if pondering its existence.

She looks at me,  smiled and said, “Good job mom!  You made me a set of chopsticks!”

I am so proud to be raising her.  Optimistic, motivational, inspirational, with a love for others and their feelings.  That night she taught me to always try because the end result might not meet your expectations but they might be exactly what someone else needs.

Tagged: Beauty, Daughter, Family, Lesson, life, Life lessons, love, oragami, relationships, Story, Teach

#BeReal – ASHLEY FUCHS

Please welcome Ashley Fuchs to #BeReal.

Be Real, No Buts About It
by Ashley Fuchs, The Malleable Mom

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

“She’s beautiful, but she’s also incredibly intelligent.”

“She’s very religious, but she’s actually really cool.”

“He’s super successful, but he’s also a great dad.”

“We are best friends, but sometimes we get on each others nerves.”

“I love my husband, but sometimes, I like to fantasize about having sex with other people.”

These sentiments, or similar ones, are probably familiar to you. I hear them all the time; we describe someone, and then we qualify that description. For the first 40 years of my life, I didn’t think twice about hearing or using this formula to describe myself or the people around me.

After I hit mid-life, I found myself in friendship with a new mentor. In the wise words of Woody the Cowboy, “If you don’t have one, get one!” Mentors are essential for continuing to reflect and grow throughout the course of one’s life. I will always have one, and I will always strive to be one to others. This particular mentor caught me “butting” myself and asked me a question I did not expect: “Why do you think you are only the one thing or the other? You are both. You are all the things.” He repeated what I had said to him, but he amended one small word that changed the entire sentiment.

And.

“She’s beautiful, and she’s also incredibly intelligent.”

“She’s very religious, and she’s really cool.”

“He’s super successful, and he’s a great Dad.”

 “We are best friends, and sometimes we get on each others nerves.”

“I love my husband, and sometimes, I like to fantasize about having sex with other people.”

Since when did we become so myopic, that we can only fit each other and ourselves in teeny, tiny check boxes? The casualty of this behavior is that learning one new thing about a person can potentially negate every other quality they possess.

We are human. We are complex. We are multi-dimensional. We are full of ands.

I am a woman and a wife and a mother and a daughter and a friend and a feminist and a bitch and sexual and a prude and slutty and a potty mouth and kind and dignified and judgmental and tolerant and intelligent and ignorant and spiritual and Atheist and a Sunday School teacher and chronically ill and funny and rude and thoughtful and creative and lazy and pragmatic and determined and mean and strong and vulnerable.

And the list goes on and on.

Moving forward, when I encounter new experiences with the people in my world, I look at it like I am adding a puzzle piece to the complex jigsaw that tells their whole story. Just as a single piece is not indicative of the whole puzzle’s picture, a lone trait is not necessarily characteristic of the entire person. Occasionally, we should weigh certain pieces more heavily, as when a person’s list of qualities includes terms like abuser or compulsive liar. In those cases, after weighing those qualities, we might intelligently determine that those people are toxic and that we don’t wish to stay in relationship with them. Using judgment is good. But we need to make sure we are judging appropriately.

I no longer wish to surround myself with people who only think like me. When that happens, we stop growing; there is no cultural breach. If we think that being tolerant to other people means only befriending people from other races, sexualities or countries, we’re fooling ourselves. It means opening up our minds and hearts to the people in our own backyard who have different values than us. It means tolerating uncomfortable conversations or questions, because we are placing a higher value on dialogue and discussion than perceived differences in order to promote understanding. We are all complex beings, and I assure you, there is always a point of connection between two people if we look hard enough.

What has happened to dialogue? We have been given this magical gift of the Internet where we can connect with people all over the world 24/7, and all we do is clump up with like-minded people, unfriend, block, and then pat ourselves on the back for this behavior, because we are staying “true to our values.” I observe way more conversation-stopping behavior, word shaming, insults and “political circle-jerking” than any attempts to thoughtfully discuss issues with people who have a different point of view.

Why? What is so scary about asking questions? If we could see a person for all of their ands, (father and business owner and son and friend and Conservative/Liberal and funny and sad and generous and introverted and whimsical) then maybe we would think twice about dismissing a comment that conflicts with our own belief system. We would want to ask this complex person what it is about this perspective that appeals to them. Once I began doing this, my world opened up in ways I couldn’t have imagined before, and I met truly incredible people with whom I probably wouldn’t have associated otherwise.

When we can be real with each other, with no buts about it, then one aspect of a person’s personality or actions will not shut off all of their accomplishments like a light switch. The more I embrace all of the ands about the people around me, the less judgmental I have become, the more interested I am in staying in relationship with others—even when we disagree on certain points—and the more quickly I have been able to move into forgiveness when momentary hurts arise.

I have also learned to extend that grace to myself. I am not one action, one characteristic, one mistake—I am a dynamic and interesting person full of conflicting and competing traits. It is the opposition of conflicting traits within me that make up the uniqueness of me – the REAL me. And the people who I hold the closest are the ones who know that.

Bio:

Ashley is an award-winning health activist and humor blogger, and was named WEGO Health Network’s Rookie of the Year in 2015. She is a hyper-flexible mother of two bouncing (literally) kids, as they have all been diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. A lack of collagen has left them the world’s worst superheroes (but don’t tell them that). She writes about the wacky things that their syndrome has taught her family with a dash of wisdom and a shot of vodka at The Incredible Adventures of Malleable Mom (www.themalleablemom.com). Her work is published in the NY Times bestseller I Just Want to be Perfect. You can find her online at Scary Mommy, Club Mid, The Bangor Daily News, I Just Want to Pee Alone, Mamapedia, and BLUNTmoms, and she was in the 2015 DC cast of Listen to Your Mother. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Tagged: #BeReal, Confidence, diversity, grace, Growth, learn, life, love, Relationship, seeking, Self Discovery, Self Love

#BeReal -ALISA SCHINDLER

Please welcome Alisa Schindler to #BeReal.

It’s taken decades for me to really figure out what it means to be real, not because I was trying not to be, but because I didn’t know how. I spent a long time insecure and concerned with others’ perception of me. I spent a long time uncomfortable with myself. But then I hit a period in life where I realized that none of that really matters at all; that the only thing that does matter is being genuine and true to yourself.

Having an emotionally and physically disable parent has taught me so many lessons. Even though it is the hardest burden of my life, I also appreciate what it has brought me – mainly perspective. I appreciate my children, my husband, my life, my friends. I know how good I have it, how precious every hug is, every small moment, what it means to just be healthy. There is no sweating the small stuff.

Some situations in life, like with my sick father, is full of difficulties. It is not easy being the entire support network for a depressed, lost individual, especially one with social and physical challenges as well. Sometimes I say the wrong things, sometimes I respond exactly how I know I shouldn’t because just because someone is sick and depressed doesn’t mean that they can’t be mean or manipulative. It’s not always easy taking the high road and when I don’t I become snappy with my kids, short with my husband and I shut off my friends. I get angry with myself that I didn’t handle myself better, which of course makes it worse.

Life is hard. We all struggle. We all have challenges. We all have done things we aren’t proud of. But that’s part of learning and growing and being human. Being real means not judging anyone else’s transgressions or life. It means walking my own path and letting everyone else do the same.

So constantly, every day, I work on forgiving and accepting myself. For my mistakes, for the extra scoop of ice cream I shouldn’t have eaten, for forgetting to pick up the dry cleaning or making chicken nuggets for dinner, for not being the best mom, daughter, wife, friend, person. And I say, I’m okay and I’m doing the best I can. I don’t have to be perfect. I just have to be me.

 

Bio: Alisa Schindler is a mom of three boys and wife to Mr. Baseball. She schlepps children, burns cupcakes and writes essays that been featured online at NYTMotherlode, Washington Post, Kveller, Brain, Child and Good Housekeeping among others. She occasionally blogs at icescreammama.com. Check out her fun, sexy fiction finally available on Amazon after she finished hemming and hawing and biting her nails and wondering if it was good enough.

 

 

 

Tagged: #BeReal, Family, life, live, love, relationships, Self Confidence, Self Control, Self Image

WISHING ON STARS

 

Tagged: Beauty, Destiny, Fate, love, POEM, Poet, POETRY, relationships, Romance, Universe

BUT WHAT IF….

A friend asked me if I had ever tried to meditate. I told him I had tried but my mind sounds like a crazy drunken concert crowd. Always loud. Always rowdy. He sent me some links to try and I tried. I fell asleep with a quiet mind. It was strange.

This morning I woke up with one thought in my mind. What if I am the problem? What if I looked at the world with the knowledge that I am the problem and the solution? What if all this time I thought I had no power to change anything and didn’t try just to find out I held all the power to do everything?

Of course, it is a ridiculous line of reasoning.

But what if…

In all cases, when one is alone, they will be with themselves.  It is when one is alone that they must either face themselves or deny themselves.  To deny themselves is a great injustice.  It leads to corruption of the heart and soul.  It leads to unhappiness and a warped sense of self.

To face oneself takes courage.  They will often times discover they are sorcerers of manipulation and carriers of social disease.  And if they look long enough they will find a pile of bones, skeletons long ago forgotten, in a closet somewhere locked away.  They will come across traps laid and lies told maliciously.  Many of those lies (and the most destructive) will be the lies they told themselves.  Those lies will be justified as being techniques of survival but are lies all the same.

To face oneself takes heroism. It is extremely painful and many will avoid it at ALL costs.  They will continue looking to others for acceptance and they will believe all the ridiculous things people will believe about them.  The will bow down to the abusive names they are called and they will weep. And then they will fall into the pit of despair they alone have dug.

To face oneself takes willfulness and compassion. Because to face oneself is to finally care enough to embrace humanity.  To embrace mistakes and imperfection.  To realize they are both a monster and an angel.  That they are both light and dark.  That they are indeed in control of the amount of love and hate they dispense into the world.

We are all so very magical.  We possess so much power.  We get stuck on our flaws and our illnesses.  We get stuck believing we are ALL the things anyone has ever said about us.  WE do and continue to do horrible things to ourselves believing that it is good to torture ourselves in order to grow ourselves.

To face oneself is to win. Everyone is capable of love and forgiveness. But it starts with the self. A person is many things. Both good and evil. But to face oneself is to win happiness.

What if we are the problem? What if we are the solution?

If enough of us finally decided to face ourselves the world would be the beautiful place we all dream of.  Change.  It starts with you.  It starts with me.

Tagged: Belief, Dark, Heaven, Hell, Light, Meditation, relationships, Self, Self Discovery, Self Love, Self Talk

HISTORICAL PUZZLES

I am perceived and divided.

You see me as bound by history.

A set of experiences chaining me to the railway.

Boundaries marked.

Respect tried and failure too often won.

Knots tied but carefully unraveled.

I am but your servant. Your true beloved,

And so much more as my duty has been sworn.

Because of you, I try to wriggle from the bondage I’ve known.

So many challenges our meeting surmises,

But victories beset only by expectations held

Due to the plagues spread by the entitled before us.

I am happy to have found you.

To create the remembrances of our future selves.

My journey has waivered a hundred and half times seven

Romancing me to continue on, but I love the battle

As it conjures images I long to dream upon—

That your arms and your chest hold close for evermore

The conversations and soliloquies I cling to. I hark the passions,

And scream into the chaos, fighting for you and against the archaic,

And only God knows, the mundanely heroic behaviors of yesterday.

I intend nothing but love and goodness.

And I have hopes.

A more compassionate version of expectation.

A wiser choice as well.

Hopes not tainted by jealousy, but being shaped and molded,

and harnessed in extreme puzzlement; of one whose laid bare,

Feelings and emotions, wrought by raw betrayal.

I will bank all that I am; both wide open eyes,

Admitting to their salient and drippy temperament,

Fat tears as big as their atmospheres allow,

Their ineffective resolve. I promise you this,

And I will say it as often times as you wish.

I am all in.

Head, heart, fist, knees and steady feet.

We will beat the histories and the stories past.

We will circumcise them from this new tree,

And exercise all the old leaves.

We will begin anew. We will be a spring.

We will be new.

Tagged: Beauty, Journey, Joy, life, love, POEM, Poet, POETRY, relationships

MY SOMEHOW IMPORTANT SELF-DIALOG

I started writing a Facebook post this morning that turned into a long dialog with myself. I decided to leave it there and finish it here. Why? Because it feels important somehow. Maybe not important in a way that will change or shape lives. But it feels like I might want to visit these thoughts again. It feels like I am trying to solve something but I am not sure what yet.

I might be unraveling but I might be becoming. I am not sure of that yet either. One thing I do know… is that if I keep searching I have a greater chance of finding the answers I seek.

My head is a crowded and busy place.

Rarely can I sit back and empty my mind. I don’t see how people who meditate do it. I’ve tried. I tried this morning but all I could think about was mental illness, emotions, and why do we, as humans, hurt each other.

Life is strange but maybe not so strange.

Often times I will relate an emotion or a human experience to something in nature. I believe nature is an extension of us not the other way around. That may seem awfully ridiculous to some but it forms my universal view of things.

The phrase “you are not the center of the universe” comes to mind. Well, whether or not we are the only beings in the universe seems fairly irrelevant to me. Unless those beings effect us in a way that is tangibly noticed by us then it matters not if we know of or understand how their existence changes ours. And even then we ARE the center of things.

The idea that we have a short and finite life span also doesn’t have significant enough value to change my view. When viewing the universe without knowledge we see chaos and randomness and we fear what we don’t understand. But when we observe and learn we start to find predictably and harmony.

We are sentient beings which means we can feel things in a way that can be perceived and subjectively applied to the reality we live in. We can use all the things we learn about the world around us to explain why and how we do the things we do as humans.

Our minds are like the universe. Still being explored. We are afraid of the things we don’t understand. We seek understanding and through knowledge we eliminate the fear of the unknown. We keep finding pieces of the puzzle and solving the problem of unpredictability.

I am a Christian so I have had to ask myself where does God fit in? He is the creator. We are made in his image. I think that extends to the universe as a whole. Predictability. There is comfort in predictability. I know if I do this then this will happen. We call them rules of life, of nature, of the universe but really…. they are just the basis of existence.

I sort of see life like a lava flow. It flows over the past causing it to be inaccessible but it is still there buried while at the same time laying the groundwork for the future. Eventually, we die… but we don’t collectively. We haven’t yet anyway.

So many things about us seem unpredictable but I wonder if eventually our choices, our behavior, our decay and our mistakes are all in the end predictable with enough knowledge.  I have to believe we have a purpose.

 

Are we the center of the universe?

Maybe and maybe not.  But as far as I am concerned, and as long as I am able to gather evidence and reason my way through life, I guess I will continue to believe that what I do and how I see things actually matter somehow.  Somehow I am adding to the COLLECTIVE humanity.  I hope to do that in the most enlightened way I can.

If I am NOT the center of the universe.  If you are NOT the center of the universe.  If we humans are NOT the center of the universe then I suppose not much does matter.  And we should just keep keeping on or not.

 

 

 

 

 

Tagged: Belief, examination, existence, life, Meaning, Questions, relationships, Religion, Searching, Self, Truth, Universe

UNCONDITIONALLY

There will be many

Who will love your smile

They will tell you jokes

Just so they can claim it

There will be many

Who will love your eyes

Will want to dive deep

Into the magic they hold

There will be many

Who will love your heart

They will try to mark it

Etch their name deep

Try to brand it, own it

But

Don’t give them away

To the first bidder

Or the highest

Or the bravest

Or the sweetest

In fact

Let those things shine

On everyone you meet

And wait for the one

Who doesn’t want to take

What is yours to keep

Save

Tagged: Beauty, Child, children, Confidence, Family, love, POEM, POETRY, Self Confidence, Self Control