MetiyaChique X PrettyLittleThing

I’m so excited to share this post with you, as the topic has been on my mind for a while now. There is a rush going round with all the buzz and excitement of closing 2017 and seeing in a New Year. For some, it’s a chance to reflect on the past year – what you achieved, what you overcame and even what you learnt through the not-so-good decisions.

For others, the end of the year presents an opportunity to delve into dreaming and planning for the coming year – what you will achieve, where you will go and who you will be. The wise ones amongst us will probably combine the two – reflecting on what 2017 has taught us and taking the lessons to plan a successful 2018.  Many thanks to the guys at PrettyLittleThing for this gorgeous activewear and helping me to be my best this year.

I’ve mentioned before my struggle with perfectionism. Someone once told me its a Virgo thing, but I think it’s a human trait we all possess – this desire to be without flaw aka flawless. And it hasn’t been helped by the rise of social media. This visual channel has allowed us to paint photos of perfect stills that give the notion of a perfect life. We fall for it when others do it and we strive for it off camera as well, knowing deep down that nobody is perfect.  But still we try so hard to create this image of a perfect life, perfect appearance and perfect happiness online.

That is probably why my biggest struggle has been letting go of the ideas others had about who I should be. And my biggest achievement (a work in progress) is embracing who I actually am fully, by letting go of this idea of perfectionism. See the problem I found was that striving to be perfect was never really about me, my eyes face outwards so I can’t look at myself. But it was more about how others perceived me. How I appeared to strangers on the internet, neighbours on the street and colleagues at work. We now live in a society that is constantly bombarding us with ideas of how we should be, what we should look like – how to wear our makeup, how to wear our hair, how to appear thinner or how to make your bum bigger and it goes on and on.

It’s easy to lose yourself in all of it and forget the most important question of all:

 What will make ME happy? 

This year has been all about loving EVERY part of myself. From my natural kinky hair to my full features – lips, cheeks and even my imperfect body. I truly believe everyone is beautiful and special regardless of whether popular culture thinks so or not. You might not see a girl with your body or your skin or hair in the magazines or the popular Instagram channels. But I want you to know that you are perfect just as you are.

As we head into 2018, the temptation is there for me to be like – I want the PERFECT body next year. I want to be hotter than hot, untouchable like a Baywatch actress and bootylicious like Beyonce. Then I ask myself, okay – what if you are not any of those things? What will happen then? Will you cease to be beautiful? will you cease to be hot? will you die? The answer is NO! I am already all those things I want to be just by being me! There is absolutely no pressure for me to look like ANYBODY else because I am enough. And so are you. So this year a goal for me is just to be fit! I want to run up and down the stairs without losing my breath, to be able to dance all night without losing my legs and to live life to the full knowing that I’m enough.

Many thanks to PLT for these lit training outfits to make me look good as I’m doing so. You can check out their Activewear range here and get yourself feeling good! [Photography by TKJ Global Media Ltd]

So can I invite you to join me? Let us say Forget You to New Year’s resolutions and instead write : EMBRACE MYSELF FULLY.

Love and Light x MC