Why is it that when giving others encouragement or advice we always end up quoting Miley Cyrus’ song title “Nobody’s Perfect,” yet apply completely different rules when evaluating ourselves?

We are so quick to compare our life with someone else’s, and without hesitation we start putting ourselves down.

A quote from an anonymous author simply explained the irrevocable truth about humanity in one sentence; “Butterflies can’t see their wings, they can’t see how truly beautiful they are, but everyone else can. People are like that as well.”

I’ve spent an endless amount of time trying to convince those I love how completely incredible of a human being they are. I would tell them of all the potential and goodness that I see in them. But to no avail, they would find a way to convince themselves otherwise.

I started taking it personally. Why couldn’t they see what I saw in them? Why didn’t all those heartfelt compliments and conversations mean anything to them? All I wanted was for them to see that I loved them regardless of their human flaws and short comings. To see themselves through my eyes.

It got me to thinking that I would never be successful at convincing anyone of anything unless they believed it themselves.

Yes, I’d like to imagine that after consistent words of encouragement you could eventually help open a person’s eyes to how beautiful they really are. But that’s just the thing, we aren’t the ones in charge of opening that persons eyes. Yes, we can physically open them, but it’d be like opening someone’s eyelids while they are fast asleep. You can see their eyes, but that aren’t actually using them for site at the present moment. They are blind to reality. They are asleep.

It isn’t until the person wakes up that they realize their vision is blurry. Only then do they choose to go to the eye doctor to get some form of clearer vision. As much as we’d sometimes like to, we can’t just give away our own pair of glasses to someone and expect them to see as clear as we do.

In order to come closer to seeing ourselves in a new light and loving what we see, each and every person needs to have confidence.

Now we’ve all met that person who, when they immediately walk into the room, reek of cockiness. We often refer to these types of people as being “full of themselves.” But full of what exactly?

People who are overly-confident and self-absorbed, I have come to find, actually are the opposite of ‘full’ but rather are empty of self-love. They’ve mastered the art of pretending in front of others, yet the only person they play pretend with is themselves.

If you are truly confident in yourself then there’s no need to make yourself known to everyone you encounter. You don’t seek other people’s acceptance because you’ve already accepted yourself for you who are. You don’t have to be in the spotlight because you’re comfortable exactly where you are. And lastly, you don’t thrive off compliments because you no longer need them for validation of your worth.

So here’s the real question; if someone asked you to name all the things that you love, how long would it take for you to name yourself?

For how similar are we to the overused quote “when looking at a dandelion, some see a weed, while others see a wish?" When looking deep within yourself don’t ever mistaken the dandelion within you for anything less than the beautiful flower that it is. This is my wish for you.