You call that research?

Hello friends!

I just got home from school, and this is what half of my day consisted of:

 

How can you say anything bad about a college program that sends you out to an Equine Center to play with horses, and calls it "research"? Best afternoon ever.

Now that I'm home though, I have another book review for you guys. This one is pretty important to me, so even though this blog isn't really meant for doing book reviews, I hope you'll bear with me. 

The book is called Operation Beautiful. It is written by Caitlin Boyle (her blog is where Operation Beautiful originally started, you can find it here). Caitlin founded Operation Beautiful after years of putting herself down, calling herself fat (what she refers to as "fat talk"), and just not being very nice to herself overall. Looking in the mirror one day, she mentally scolded herself for behaving this way and, as a visual reminder, she wrote a few words about how beautiful a person she was on a post-it, and stuck that post-it to her mirror. The idea ballooned out from there, and now thousands and thousands of people around the world have taken up writing little notes on post-its and leaving them in public places, in books, or around their own homes to help remind them and everyone else that we are all beautiful, and that "fat talk" is only poisoning us and keeping us from our full potential.

Her book is full of pictures, anecdotes, and stories on some of the post-it notes that have been left by people or found by others around the world, and it is so heartfelt and genuine. We ARE all beautiful in our own ways, and this book serves as a wonderful reminder of that.

This is a topic that hits close to home for me, as well. I have struggled with self-doubt and "fat talk" my whole life. I will be honest with you, there are days even now where I don't want to get out of bed because I feel like I'm not good enough. Thinking logically, however, I know this is crazy thinking. I know how frustrated I feel when any one of my amazing friends puts themselves down or calls themselves fat or belittles themselves, so why is it okay for me to do so? It absolutely is not okay, and reading a few pages of Operation Beautiful each day have been helping me to keep that in mind.

This book would make a great gift to a mother or a sister or a friend. Or better yet, buy it as a gift to yourself. Because you are beautiful, each and every one of you. Because you are you. :)

Happy reading!