Dan Pearce

So you were talking crap about me? Hm. I missed it. I was too busy being fabulous.

When you do talk to people, share what you are. Stop focusing on all the things that you aren__. Stop focusing on all of the physical features that you think people won__ like about you. Stop focusing on your inabilities or lack of talent. Instead, focus on those physical features that you know people already love about you. Focus on your abilities and the talents that you do have. You have been blessed with all of the above, and that makes you worth getting to know in my book.

Smile at people everywhere you go. Don__ just give them one of those half-smirk/head nod things. Raise your eyebrows, show those teeth, and chuckle while you smile. Next time you__e at the store, give a full-hearted smile to at least three complete strangers. You__l be amazed at what this does for them and for you.

Do you love yourself? The test is simple. Do you look at others and see anything besides another beautiful human being? Do you see somebody who is more beautiful or less beautiful than you? If so, look down a little deeper and ask yourself why. It may be painful. The whys usually are. Do it anyway.

People who love themselves, don__ hurt other people. People who love themselves have no reason to ever judge another person on looks. There is simply no need. People who love themselves no longer look at beauty on a sliding scale or as a competition. There is nobody more beautiful or less beautiful than anyone else, including themselves. People who love themselves no longer see fat or skinny, tall or short, fair or dark skin, gay or straight, strong or weak. They only see people. Beautiful, beautiful people.

Be real. Embrace that you have weakness. Because everyone does. Embrace that your body is not perfect. Because nobody__ is. Embrace that you have things you can__ control. We all have a list of them.

Think of the most discouraging thing that you are currently carrying or the biggest project you can__ seem to tackle. Forget about how it happened, forget about how you got there, just look at the clock, and before that number changes, do one little thing to make it better. After you do, enjoy your moment of victory, and then do it again. In less than the time it takes you to blink, the past will burden you no more.

I enjoy a torture session on the rowing machine and I also enjoy my mom__ homemade peach cobbler. I enjoy flopping like that dead fish with hips that can__ lie in dance class, and I also enjoy ordering pizza with my kid, renting a movie, and downing popcorn while we share some special time together. I enjoy seeing how much I can lift at the gym and I also enjoy stuffing a fresh chewy chocolate chip cookie into my face when I__ having a hard day.

The skinnier and more toned I got, the fatter I felt.The more in shape I got, the more out of shape I felt like I was.And the more I made myself look good to the masses, the less attractive I felt like I was.

I__e been chained to my bathroom scale for two decades now. I__e used the number on my scale to tell me if I__ valuable or not. I__e let the number on my scale destroy many beautiful opportunities in my life such as scheduling family photos, having fun at the beach, or giving myself 100% in intimacy. I__e let the number on the scale tell me if I should be confident in who I am. I__e let the number on the scale tell me if I am worthy of kind thoughts from others. Ultimately, I__e always let some ridiculous number on the bathroom scale tell me whether or not I should love myself.

I__ not going to miss 95% of life to weigh 5% less.

I am, for some reason, actually happy with who I am and the muscle, the bones, and the flub that exist beneath these clothes.I don__ need to lose 20 lbs. to be attractive.I don__ need to starve myself of the good things of life to be healthy.And, I don__ need to chase someone else__ ideal of what I should be looking like.

The goal was never dependent on the route that took me there. It was always dependent on the heart that got me through whatever route opened itself up to my efforts.

If your dreams and goals get derailed, they're not dead. Derailed simply means off-track. Pick 'em up and put 'em back on again.

I am just a guy, doing my best to be the best person I can be.And, every once in a while, I fuck up the moment I__ in.Please. Get over it. Get over yourselves. Get over this weird need to be morally superior to me and to the other people in this world.And let me be imperfect. I assure you, my imperfections drive me to improve.Let me love myself. I assure you, loving myself despite my faults will only make me a better person.Let me be my own judge. I assure you, I__l be more fair and just than you ever will.Let me be the owner of my own intentions. I assure you, there isn__ another soul on earth who knows what my real intentions are but me.Love and acceptance despite ongoing and glaring imperfection is all I__e ever tried to attain with this blog. For me. For you. For everyone. And I__l never stop.

If you don__ want your past to own you, try owning your past.

Happiness comes from striving to make tomorrow better than today and being at peace when yesterday was better than today as well.

Mirrors have three purposes. To show you who you are. To show you who you were. And to show you who you want to be.