Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Build Me Up

Credit for the title of my blog goes to my friend Audrey.

I've been thinking about starting this blog for a while now. And since we're at the cusp of a new year, it feels like the perfect time to do it. After all, New Year's is an introspective time for many of us. We reflect on the year gone by, remember the good times and the bad, the things we loved and the things we hated. And most importantly, we think about the things we learned.

I've been doing a lot of introspecting lately. And not just because it's New Year's. I've just had a lot of thoughts jumbled up inside my brain. And while trying to make sense of them, I realized something.

I'm a lot more awesome than I give myself credit for.

Does that make me sound conceited? It probably does. But it shouldn't. We're only conceited when we put ourselves on a pedestal, when we think that we're better than everyone else around us. And just because you have a positive view of yourself doesn't mean you're putting yourself on a pedestal. And having a positive view of yourself doesn't mean that you don't recognize your flaws (trust me, I know my flaws). No, having a positive view of yourself only means that you don't let your flaws define who you are as a person.

I think a lot of us tend to beat ourselves up when it comes to our self image. I think part of the reason is, like I mentioned above, we tend to believe that if we think too highly of ourselves, that others will see us as stuck up.

The other reason, and I think more of the fault lies here, is because society is harsh. Both in terms of the media and the people around us. And we can build walls around our self esteem all we want, but when people keep beating at them, those walls will come tumbling down.

So I hope that with this blog, I can try and build those walls back up again. And I hope that anyone reading this will be able to build theirs up, too.