Confidence To Be The Imperfect You

Confidence is a hard one. You need to be brave to attempt the thing. If you try, you could fail. But, you might find the confidence to be the imperfect you.

I thought to be a confident person you had to be perfect. The perfect size, have the perfect house with a perfect family inside. I thought being successful was being perfect.

Now, I know perfect is an illusion. A boring illusion. And you will never conquer your dreams— or be happy if you think you need to be perfect.

Imperfect is who we are.

I used to think my only purpose was to be a great mother and raise great kids and be a loving wife to my loving husband, and then my first love became important—writing. Finally, I became brave enough to let my words out into the world. Now, I know writing is my purpose and being a mother and wife are my gifts.

This didn’t happen over night. I started writing 26 years after receiving a degree in journalism. Not because I became a wife and a mother, but because I had no confidence.

Finding my confidence to write was a door I opened to find myself. A door I opened for myself. I found me. My words freed me. The words freed me to be me. An imperfect me. They freed me to stop being who I thought I wanted to be, who I was content to be and to step towards the dream I have been dreaming for over thirty years.

I want to be a published author.

Dreaming and working hard to be a published children’s book author.

I am a published writer. Newspapers, magazines, blogs. I am proud of myself for that. I achieved more than I ever dreamed I would because remember I had no confidence. The writing was within me; I knew I needed to write. And, I did write–I just rarely shared my words with anyone. When I finally found the confidence to try, something happened. I realized writing could be more than a dream.

With every piece of writing, I submitted, and with every article published, my confidence grew. And because the confidence grew, the dreams grew, and the bravery it took to share more words grew along within.

It was a beautiful, vicious cycle.

But, I am not finished.

I have dreams to conquer. And I have the confidence to reach out and grab them.

My confidence doesn’t come from how I look. It has nothing to do with my jean size. it has nothing to do with my weight, my age, or my savings. It all comes from within. Within.

I don’t like the way I look most of the time. When I write, I am in shorts, sweats, or pajama pants. My hair is in a ponytail, and I may or may not have washed my face. This look doesn’t bring confidence. This is not a perfect look. But it is a comfortable look. And I love it.

I don’t have to be perfect.

I don’t have to be perfect to let the words out. Writing has nothing to do with being perfect. My words aren’t even perfect, but they are mine.

Being imperfect is okay. -dedra davis

To be honest, I am aging; I am no longer a size six and haven’t been for many years. But that doesn’t matter when it comes to my writing. I don’t have to be perfect. I simply need to be brave.

And that is the beautiful part of it all.

When I get my agent and when I get my children’s books published, the parents and kids who read my books will not care what size my jeans are, will they? They will love my words, my books, and the message in the books. And that is what matters to me.

Being imperfect is okay. We are all imperfect. I am no where near perfect, but I am happy, loved, and confident in my life. And that is a good thing.

Find your confidence.

I beg of you to find your confidence within. Find the door to your dreams and walk through it. Do it for you. Please, do it for the little girl who dreamed. For the woman who still dreams–do it for her!

Don’t wait until you are perfect to follow your dreams because you and I both know that will never happen.

Find your passion

Find your passion and do it. It doesn’t matter if it is cooking, baking, knitting, singing, or building things. Sewing, designing, lettering, or growing plants. It doesn’t matter if it is writing or taking pictures, but what does matter is you and your imperfect dream.

I found my confidence, my purpose, and my happiness. You can, too.

I am an encourager in the #consumedbyconfidence campaign, hosted by @theauthenticwomanseries and Ashton Long. I want to bring you encouragement, to be you, to be proud of you, and to find the confidence to follow your dreams!

Finding my confidence to write was a door I opened to find myself. A door I opened for myself. I found me. My words freed me.Click To Tweet

 I hope for you the passion and courage to follow your dreams. I hope for you the confidence to try.

love and blessings~dd

 

I am participating in a Children’s Book contest from two fiends of mine in my critique group called Spring Fling Writing Contest. I have to write a 150-word picture book about spring, using a GIF as inspiration.

Since I am writing about confidence this week, I thought about the spring season and who needs confidence. Hope you enjoy and wish me luck!

 
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Be A Bird

by Dedra Davis

 

Spring is here.

New life is all around us.

The trees grow new leaves.

Seeds sprout out of the ground.

The flowers bloom.

The temperatures rise.

And nature babies are born.

Baby birds are snug in their nest.

Their bird brothers and bird sisters all share the roost.

Momma feeds them, and they are safe.

But one day, they grow so big, the nest becomes too little.

The baby birds must learn to fly.

Think about the confidence it takes to leave the nest.

They must fly away, on their own.

So high.

So scary.

All alone.

Baby Bird flaps his wings, and up, up he goes.

Down, down, down he falls.

Now, what is he going to do?

Where is the neighbor’s cat?

Baby Bird, try again. Hurry!

Flap, flap, flap

UP, UP, down.

Try, try again, Baby Bird.

Flap, flap, FLAP

Up, up, UP!

Bye, bye, Baby Bird.

 

The End. Thanks for reading!! Now, go be like Baby Bird and be confident!

(P.S. I was one of the winners in the Spring contest for this little story!)

 

 

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