Weddings, Bachelor Parties...how to survive the season with confidence!

I am feeling very unmotivated and uninspired to write this week, but since I do have a few followers, I thought I should probably write something;)

Our first wedding of the season is next week so I thought this would be an appropriate repost/rewrite and probably quite entertaining for the people that remember how irritated I was at the time. I will take bits and pieces from a journal a couple years back (bolded), remember how I felt at that time, how I feel now after reflection and mix it all together...might be a mess!

Paint the picture:

Prior to having three beautiful children I was the annoyingly skinny, spoiled blond girl that generally got whatever I set my mind on. I never really had a problem with self confidence and I didn't foster many insecurities.

THEN, I had children. I gained 60 pounds with my first child, seriously, 60! I thought being pregnant meant that I was entitled to have Breyers ice cream by the gallon! By the time I was nine months pregnant with my third bundle of joy my ultimate goal was not to surpass 200 on the scale when the doctor read my weight...I made it (by a pound).

Having children seriously messes with your hormones! Compound the crazy evolving hormones with an extra 30 plus pounds to a person that is used to being thin and I was a mess. For the first time in my life I was insecure with the way that I looked, jealousy was probably noticeable to the naked eye because I was raging with it, and I was sleep deprived with three very young children. I had to go in to the clinic one to three times a week to have my blood tested. I wasn't allowed to exercise at all because of my blood clot. Seriously, I was a train wreck...

Knowing the above backgroud is PART what makes this an issue: Hubby is aware that he has a bachelor party this weekend starting at 9am with golf, football, strippers and oogles of beer. As if that isn't bad enough to think about (let alone disgusting and age inappropriate) he feels entitled to watch 4 hours of football at the neighbors on Saturday and 4 hours at a friends house on Sunday last weekend. When he left Sunday I threw his wallet to illustrate that I was not happy. He'll probably even justify playing 2.5 hours of basketball tonight, it just has yet to be addressed. I am also insecure about the stripperSSSSS after 10 hours of drinking. Not that I would ever imagine my husband cheating, I just don't want to think about how disgusting it is going to be with a room full of wasted men and two (NOT ONE, TWO) strippers. I am a train wreck and cannot explain myself without sounding like a psycho. The issue will most likely go unaddressed. He will attend the bachelor party. I will hear disgusting stories and shrug them off as if I don't care.

I remember picking fights with my husband for WEEKS before this bachelor party (and really anytime he went out with friends)! WHY? Because I was insecure! I didn't like how I looked on the outside and figured that my husband didn't either. I wasn't confident in myself or my marraige and instead of recognizing my insecurities I played the blame game. It had to be someone's fault that I was feeling this way, certainly not mine;) Even though my husband attempted to make me feel attractive and beautiful, I couldn't see it. I was so caught up with my outside appearance that it was making my inside appearance ugly as well.

My advice to anyone that is feeling insecure as this wedding season approaches is to look in the mirror again. Rather than looking at the few extra pounds floating around in unwanted places or wishing you looked like this instead of that, look deeper into the mirror. Look at the part of the mirror where you find your heart and soul, look past the outside appearance and look in. When you look at this part of the mirror do you see beauty? Do you love the person on the inside of the body?

If you do then you should walk with confidence. Raise your head high and walk with assurance because the person on the inside is the one really counts. Honestly, you'll look much more attractive if you find that confidence...even with the few extra pounds.

Wishing the Avers and Gears clans wonderful Bachelor/Bachelorette parties filled only with friends, fun and memories made...cheers to throwing the useless insecurities out the window!