Do you see yourself as beautiful?

Or do you listen to the shades of your past?

As a kid, my classmates called me “four eyes” and “rope man” because I wore glasses and thin. I dealt with bullies in high school and did my best to get by. In my family, my grandfather called me a bookworm because I always had my nose in a book.

I used books as a means of escape from my problems.

When you look in the mirror, do you love yourself or do you hear the voices of your past?

Do you see yourself as a bright beacon of joy and hope in life, or do you feel washed up, tired, and inconsequential in the grand scheme of things?

Who are you?

On the path of recovery from healing from growing up in an alcoholic or dysfunctional family, you will need to answer these questions. You can choose to repress your feelings or you can face them, embrace them, and grow.

Each and every one of us is unique. We are beautiful inside and out. Not because of what we say, but because of who we are. Who we are inside and out.

The sooner we see the beauty within, the sooner we can find the healing and joy we have so desperately sought.

As kids, we needed our parents to help us. But due to alcoholism or dysfunction, they focused their energies on their own problems and we had to grow up on our own. We may have been abandoned and have long searched for that missing piece inside.

But the secret has always been right in front of our eyes: We are the one who we have always searched for. We are beautiful. We are loved. We are who we are.

The blossoming of our understanding of this most sacred fact will bring you the joy you have so desperately wanted.

For today, wrestle with this question and embrace the answer: Am I beautiful?

The answer has always been yes, but can you not only see it, do you believe it?