Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am short. I am loud. I am awkward. I am honest, outspoken, and sometimes obnoxious. I am easily entertained, I laugh a lot, and apparently make amusing facial expressions in many situations. I love to talk, tell really long stories, and sing songs very unskillfully. I am over-emotional, easily stressed, and even more easily aggravated. I love Jesus, and I do my best to let His light shine through me in all that I do.

Recently, someone told me, "You laugh so much." I immediately, instinctively responded with, "I'm sorry, I can't help it," and yes, there was a bit of a giggle attached to the end of that reply. But, that isn't my concern. I am not worried at all with the fact that I laugh a lot. What I am worried about, though, is why I felt the need to apologize for that.

Laughter is a beautiful thing. Now, in my defense, I do not claim to have a beautiful laugh. I have about six different laughs depending on my mood and how much I've already been laughing. When I think back to that moment and my response to such a simple statement, I am a bit ashamed of myself. Not because I do laugh too much, but because I apologized for being who I am. Laughing has always been a way of coping for me, in any situation whether it be a heartbreak or just an awkward moment.

I am not sorry for that, and I don't want to help it.

Why do we feel the need to apologize to others for just simply being ourselves? I am me and I am proud of who I am. I am proud, because my Creator made me to be exactly who He wanted me to be. There is no reason, ever, that anyone should have to apologize for something so harmless; something so you.

This is a challenge to all of you who have ever found yourself in this position.

Be you. Be a proud you. Be the best you that you can be. Laugh loud, hard, and endlessly. Sing loud, louder, and loudest. Love yourself today, tomorrow, and forever.

You are made in His image, and that is something to live by. Do not ever be ashamed of being you. God created you to be who you are, so be yourself and don't ever apologize for it.

"Be yourself, everyone else is already taken." Oscar Wilde

"Find out who you are, and do it on purpose." Dolly Parton

"Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you." Dr. Suess