Stop Putting Yourself Down. It’s Time to Elevate!
Do you constantly find yourself too wrapped up in your flaws? If so, it could be getting in the way of living the life you dream of and COULD be loving if you’d stop putting yourself down and start embracing your flaws.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Each of us has flaws. However, many of us fight against them; harshly criticizing ourselves for not being perfect. While there is a lot of pressure around us daily to be perfect, it’s just not possible. When we try, we end up hating ourselves and living a life that isn’t true to who we are.
If you want to learn to elevate (reach your next level), you MUST embrace your flaws and start to love ALL of yourself. Let’s look at why and the benefits you can experience if you will stop putting yourself down and start loving the person that you are.
Your Positive Flaws
When you start to embrace all that you are, you’ll start to see them more positively. Whether you believe it now or not, there are some positives to your imperfections.
Don’t believe me? Let’s look at a couple of examples:
- If you have ADHD (like me), you may feel scatterbrained at times. That is what you see instead of acknowledging that you have a mental health condition. What if you learned to cope by developing systems to help you that you could then train other with? Those who have learned to function with ADHD are some of the most organized people at work because they know they need to implement systems to stay on task!
- If you don’t like the way your voice sounds, you may focus on trying to talk less so others can’t hear it. However, if you would embrace that you sound different, you may find that people enjoy hearing you speak because you drop nuggets they haven’t heard elsewhere.
Flaws may help you accomplish more and set you apart more than you might realize. Start to look for the positives in your flaws and realize that everyone has them.
Feel Free
When you are so caught up on your imperfections, it can make you feel trapped under constant pressure. By embracing them, it helps to set you free. Nothing is more freeing than living your life without the constant weight of your own expectations. Once you accept your flaws, you’ll feel like a weight has been lifted.
Embracing the person you are and allowing yourself to walk in freedom will cause others to be more attracted to you. Think about the types of people you enjoy being around. Did you say “People who put themselves down all the time?” If not, stop doing it to yourself.
Focus on Who You Are
When you are so focused on your imperfections, it can stop you being who you truly are. It causes you to chase an ideal that you aren’t ever going to live up to. However, when you let go of your imperfections, your authentic self will start to shine through.
If you feel like you have lost who you wanted to be, start letting go of your need to be perfect. This is how I found freedom in my own life. When I finally said goodbye to being fully put together and on point for everything I did and allowed myself to operate in excellence instead of perfection, I suddenly found myself working on projects I never thought I would do and began walking with a newfound confidence in my abilities.
Living Healthier
Living your life constantly focused on your imperfections isn’t healthy. It impacts your perspective on things, causing you to make choices you wouldn’t necessarily make if you weren’t so caught up on your flaws.
Constantly stressing over the things that you are not, can actually have a negative impact on your health. So, if you want to improve your overall health and wellbeing, you’ll want to start embracing your imperfections.
These are just some of the reasons why you need to learn to embrace your flaws. While it may be difficult, with practice you can start to think more positively about your imperfections. Remember, nobody in life is perfect, not even you and you are never going to be. The sooner you accept this and know that it’s OK, the better your life will become.
Shell Vera 
Great post, once again, Shell! Getting mired in flaws/imperfections is its own particular kind of hell. Recently I was listening to a message by Pastor Stephen Furtick, titled, “Work Your Weaknesses”–kind of fits with your theme in this post. God bless you, keep keepin’ on ❤
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Yes! “Work Your Weakness” was a great message! Then again, let’s be honest… have you ever heard a bad message from him? He’s truly an example of working in your gifts and skills and how far it will take you because when you walk out your calling and live in your purpose… it doesn’t get any better!!!
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I had to get used to Furtick…for awhile I wondered why he was shouting when he had a microphone 🙂 But he has grown on me–and amazes me frequently!
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Hahaha clearly you didn’t grow up in you or first attend a baptist church, Zelda! I have been watching him for more than a decade and I think I don’t hear it anymore.
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No, I was raised Episcopal…though I got saved at an Evangelical Lutheran summer Bible camp. After that I made the rounds before finally choosing “non-denom”.
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I can understand why it took some time to get used to! I have to try really hard when there not various levels of tones, excitement, passion in a message. When I visit somewhere and it’s super quiet, I have to focus extra hard. I’m not sure why, since there isn’t crazy excitement when I’m reading the Bible, or listening to the Word of Promise Audio Bible. BUT I love that there is something for everyone. My parents thing the music outside of Congregationalist churches is too much for them. Too loud and “current”. It makes me laugh because their saying that while watching TV on level 57 sound is like me enjoying the passion and music in nondenominational churches while also loving quiet, classical music and relaxing sounds! Lol
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God makes sure there’s something for everyone…because He created us all so uniquely different, and He’ll do whatever He has to to make sure we all hear Him ❤
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Shell I think it’s amazing what you are doing. You inspire me💜💜💜💜
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Thank you Monea! I appreciate you come by to read the post!! You’re an inspiration to me and I’m so proud of the woman you are and who you’re becoming!
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Shell, you are the absolute best. I adore you, how inspirational you are, and what a brilliant writing gift you have. You always know how to get to the heart of a matter that goes straight to our hearts, producing real change in our lives!
One of the first things that struck me about your post was reframing how we see our ‘faults.’ I’ve often felt like the reason we hate certain things about ourselves is because that could be the area of our lives God wants to use the most! If Satan can successfully get us to hate it, we will shrink back and not use it (or show it). A great example of this is Joyce Meyer. She detested her voice — now look at her. Her voice is broadcasted everywhere, around the clock. Pretty amazing how our God works, right?!
As you know, I am extremely hard on myself so this post really resonates with me. You’re so right — it’s impossible for us to move forward if we are more focused on all the reasons we think we can’t. Have you ever noticed that many times, our perceived flaws are often the qualities about us that others find interesting? It’s more proof that anyone meant to be in our lives will see us for our true selves and love us for it. Trying to be what and who we’re not to appease this world is exhausting and futile, no doubt about it.
And oh my goodness, yes — the stress effect on our health is HUGE. There is zero benefit from trying to be perfect, when perfection does not exist. This is a reminder I need almost daily. Showing up, being as excellent as we can be, should always be enough!
I love you, my friend. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and heart with us. ❤️
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Hi Holly! Thanks for reading and for your very thoughtful comments.
This is one the research team pulled together and I added my flair to it. They do such a great job that I wish they would let me share their names. I appreciate your complements and have passed them on so they see how much our work together is enjoyed!
The stress effect is so big. So big!
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