I appreciate myself because I am creative

With a string of an idea in my mind, I can weave together a blanket of stories for others to touch and immerse themselves into  

Imagination is my most generous friend, and most trusted instrument out of life's toolbox

I appreciate myself because I will not let myself fail

It's comfortable for me to withdraw and crawl into my shell after I've tasted embarrassment or reaped fruits of a shaming experience. The words "I won't show my face again; It's too painful to go back out there" so easily drip like water off my tongue

But then I hear a small voice in my mind that tells me, "Get up." When I refuse to comply and continue to hermit myself, the voice grows mightier and stronger, and like an orchestra of wisdom, it plays for me the tune of  "You are better than this. You've made a mistake, but you are not a mistake. In fact, you are brave for trying."

I then dust off from my shoulders the reasons why I should never dare greatly and take risks, and remember that my worth is too valuable to be wasted crying in a corner of my house

I appreciate myself because I have the urge to improve

The aspiration to be better than the young woman who awoke from my bed yesterday beats unceasingly within me. I desire to whisper to her at the end of each new day "I did better than you, and I hope you are proud." With all my power, I want to say the same to the woman of today, tomorrow

I appreciate myself because of the ones who have loved me first

When I focus on the ones who have the pieces of my heart in their hands, I can't help feeling myself wrapped snuggly in the quilt of the rich emotions their love created. I hold them, all of them, closer to me than the skin on my body. To me, their tender love is a currency more precious than gold

They loved my hair, they loved my smile, they loved the moles on my face and neck, and my crooked teeth; they loved me through my crying face, through my laughter, and through my joy

And they taught me how to love these things about myself, too

I appreciate myself because I am the only me in existence

My heart is sacred. My experiences are the stone from which I was carved. And my life, like all the other lives out there, is beautiful, exceptional, and one of the infinite number of wonders nature has to offer