Take me back to school

Hey lovelies,

So I titled this post 'take me back to school' because not only did my outfit remind me of school uniform a tad bit, but also because school reminds me of innocence, youth and a blank slate before life hits you in the face and I want to to talk a little about that in this post. As I stated previously in the last post, this month is self love month here at Agape Style and this post will just start that off.

                

My story ;
I haven't always been confident and as I learn more about myself each day I discover that the word 'confidence' can take many different forms. I strongly believe that it is a subjective word as sometimes one may appear confident but one look closer and you may see that it's just a front to cover up a lot of pain and hurt. I was bullied by the guys in my area whilst growing up and the names 'skinny' and 'ugly' soon replaced my first name. Due to this I grew up bitter, angry, hurt and insecure. I always felt I was uglier than all girls because I was skinnier and even long after people started saying I was beautiful I still wouldn't believe it because I was still skinny. This taunted me for many years and the journey to confidence has been a lonely and painful journey but one that I wouldn't change for the world, because I'm so much better now, all thanks to God my father.  In summer as hot as it would be, I would never wear short sleeves or show my legs, I just couldn't, but you see a time came when I had to tell myself  "Tosin you are beautiful". There's so much more to this story, but what what I am trying to say today is that in order to become more confident in yourself you must first consciously start the journey of self acceptance. This is simply because we all have flaws, but we are also very good at magnifying those flaws and making them appear bigger than they really are. Self acceptance helps you see yourself in a different light and says "I wish I had a smaller nose, but I still appreciate my nose because it makes me who I am". This way you don't dwell on the things you wish you could change but instead you embrace them.

 This outfit really reminded me of how fragile you are in your younger days, and how words said to you back then can even still be affecting you up to now. It's simplicity reminded me of how simple things were back then and I really enjoyed wearing this outfit. I used all neutral colours as that is basically what school uniform is about, many schools wear a navy jumper, white shirt,grey trousers/ skirt and black shoes and my brogues were perfect for this look. My bag also reminded me of a book bag and really bought the whole look together for me.

 Once you start to accept yourself you literally start to see the beauty that was always there and you celebrate it without appearing vain, but rather confident. 9/10 times we think we would be happier if we could change our flaws, but we actually wouldn't because you'd still have the same mindset and your happiness would be dependent upon that thing.

                                         

TIPS:
1. Walk with a straight back and your head held high this exudes confidence and will help you.
2. Take risks, in order to become confident you must step out of the box
3. Focus on strengthening your attributes daily and stop dwelling on your flaws
4. Remind yourself that you are beautiful and actually BELIEVE it.

I totally love this quote "There's nothing interesting about looking perfect- you lose the point. You want what you're wearing to say something about you, about who you are"- Emma Watson“ 

              Loads of agape love

       Tosin

        xxx