My friend Kendra approached me last month about creating an opportunity for us all to be more self-loving.  She said, “I feel like allowing ourselves to share with the world why we are special, unique, beautiful, strong, etc., can start to diminish any bits of self-loathing and hopefully give us permission to love ourselves the way we should.”  She suggested that we start a social media movement called #12ThingsILoveAboutMe and encourage others to post, Facebook, Tweet, Instagram, or Pin one thing they love about themselves each month.

I took to her idea immediately and asked her to write a guest post about her motivates behind #12ThingsILoveAboutMe.  Here’s what Kendra had to say, and if you’re so inspired, I hope you’ll comment with something you love about yourself or share your thoughts via your favorite social media channel.

I have stretch marks from my second pregnancy. I consider them a “flaw” and as much as I love my babies so very much and as proud as I am of my body having gone through the wonder of pregnancy, I don’t love them. I don’t even want to convince myself that I love them and I don’t feel like I should have to.  They aren’t pretty, they won’t go away and I envision myself wearing a one-piece swimsuit for the rest of my days because of them. And that is okay in my book.

I don’t think as women we should have to convince ourselves that something we feel is a “flaw” is really what makes us unique. I know it is true and each of our little quirks makes us who we are but I don’t necessarily want to be forced to love them.  What I do feel like we have a hard time with as women in today’s world is allowing ourselves to love other things that make us who we are… the good things. Not the flaws, not the quirks, but simply the “rock star” type things.

I’m as guilty as they come for self-loathing and focusing on the negatives for the majority of my life. I am now 32 and have two kids and I am just now starting to really feel comfortable in my own skin.

Now I am starting to look in the mirror and instead of taking inventory to mentally cut-down and talk badly about, I’m starting to celebrate and appreciate what I see. Believe me, I haven’t beat all my demons yet and the self-loathing can still creep in from time to time (hold habits die hard) but I am a work in progress and continuing to improve every day.

For years I wouldn’t feel worthy of being beautiful. I had a skewed idea of what beauty was anyway and didn’t think I lived up to the idea in my head. It has taken many years of growing up, and also many therapy sessions, to finally start allowing myself to feel good enough to be considered beautiful.

Once I started to believe it and see it with my own eyes I felt a tremendous weight lift off my shoulders. I felt lighter in my footsteps and I felt a calming sense of confidence that I have never felt in my entire life.

One thing I think needs to be clear is I’m not always talking about physical beauty either. Feeling comfortable in your own skin is so much deeper than just what is on the outside. Finding balance, finding your voice, believing you are strong, etc. are all important pieces to the puzzle as well.

Come to find out, I was always all of those things and more but I never allowed myself to feel. But that has all changed! Again, I’m not perfect and I still struggle with this every single day. Going from daily self-loathing and negative self-talk to appreciating, respecting, and {GASP} LOVING, yourself is not an easy feat. But it is possible!

My idea is to start by shouting from the roof-tops with reckless abandon something that you love about yourself. It could be anything. But the trick is you have to believe it. Maybe you secretly have always loved your nose. You’ve looked in the mirror from time-to-time and admired it. Or perhaps you are athletic and work-out to keep your body healthy which has resulted in some really sexy and muscular legs. You look in the mirror and you flat out love your legs.

Like I said, it doesn’t even have to be physical. You might feel really proud that you are a hard worker. You get the job done (whatever the “job” might be) and you get it done well. You love that about yourself and it drives you.

There will be no shame – just pure, genuine love… for YOURSELF. Can you do it? Are you up for the challenge?

Here is the gist. Once a month for a year, you will shout out one thing that you love about yourself. You can include a photo or just use your words. As a community we will be encouraged to show love to those who participate and encouragement. So shout it out here in the comments section or tweet it out with the hashtag #12ThingsILoveAboutMe.

You are beautiful. We all know it… so it’s about time you do too!