What Sarah Jessica Parker Has Taught Me About Loving Myself & Being Fearless

Last night, I was channel surfing and came upon Watch What Happens: Live on the Bravo channel. Host Andy Cohen had Sarah Jessica Parker as his guest. The one thing that caught my attention was when she talked about how a reporter wrote an article in a magazine about how ugly her hands are and how she should get surgery to correct the problem. Her response to that really threw me. She told Andy that her hands are actually one of her favorite body parts because they represent strength and that there are her mother's hands. She said she was born with these hands so she loves them despite them being "vein-y", which she says they have always been. WOW!

If we all embraced this way of thought, I think the world would overflow in self-love and less criticism. SJP accepts her hands for what they are...they are not perfect but they are hers and she loves them. She sees past the veins and sees the beauty and strength in her hands. She is thankful for those hands because they are her mother's hands.

Her nails are short and unpolished. She was wearing a simple ring but that's it. So her love for her hands is evident since you can see she is not going out of her way to make them look better. She loves them the way that they are. To her, they are perfect because they are her hands.

I have heard so many negative opinions of SJP over the years... How she has a big nose, she is not very pretty, she's too skinny or her jaw is so big. But watching her on this show, this woman could care less what others say about her because she knows what matters is how she feels about herself. When I look at her, I see a woman who is beautiful from the inside and out. Watching her on TV, I feel her positive energy radiating outward. Her laughter is genuine and she seems at ease with who she is. And seeing her, unapologetic about who she is, makes me want to get to that place. I feel like I am halfway there but I am still on my journey.

I have never really been a huge fan but I have to say, I have a newfound respect for SJP. We live in such a critical world. I see it all the time, even on the PLUS Model Magazine blog and Facebook page. People will see an image of a model that they think is not plus size "enough" and will tear her to shreds. Even when we post an outfit, they will go in, saying how that color is ugly or how they would never wear that. Once there was an image of a model wearing lingerie who is battling cancer so she had a wig on (image on right). The comments that were made were terrible. Someone finally spoke up, saying that the model has cancer.

It has been said that when a person is very critical of others, it is a reflection of how they feel about themselves. If someone is truly happy with themselves, they won't care what someone else is wearing or doing.

We each have a part of our body we hate. I know I do. We are our own worst critics. Couple that with the criticisms of others and it's easy to see how many have a negative body image. We can't control what others think but we can control what we think.

For me, I hate my thighs. But after hearing SJP talk about her love for her hands that are deemed unattractive in the media, I am rethinking that thigh hate. If we want to change the world, we have to change how we feel about ourselves first. Loving ourselves truly will make us less critical of others.

And one less person being critical takes us one step closer to changing the world's mindset of always being negative and critical.

Hmmm....food for thought.