Normally the Polka Dotted Truth is all about bringing you the latest trends in fashion, hair and makeup to try. Or reporting on what the latest runway show looked like. Or announcing that we've been published in a magazine or are walking the runway for some show or another. But this post is going to be something a little different. A little more personal, so bare with us.
For over twenty years we did everything that everyone else thought we should be doing. We studied hard in school so teachers liked us and parents were proud. We majored in what others told us we should based off who they wanted us to be. We chose a career that others thought was a good idea. We were a "make other people happy" kind of girl. We wanted, more than anything else on earth, to be perfect.
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| Take the time to figure out who you are, because if you don't everyone else will decide for you. |
Where does that get you in life? In our case, a career that made great money but wasn't something that we enjoyed. And a lot of people will say oh, who cares if you don't like it, if the money's good, stick with it. Which is probably exactly what we would have done if it weren't for a life-altering experience that ripped the rose-colored glasses quite abruptly from our eyes. As painful as the situation was it gave us the chance to do some serious self-reflection and decide what exactly it was that we wanted out of life.
Our path down the make-everyone-else-happy road led us to college to major in Pre-Med where we were a straight-A student who never missed class and volunteered for everything. We worked out like crazy and hardly ate because we wanted to be the perfect girl, thin (but not THAT thin). We chose the military because everyone said that we would be good at it. We became an Army Pilot because that's what people expected us to do and they would have been disappointed otherwise. Everything we touched turned to gold and before we knew it, we were on a slippery slope - how do you tell people this isn't what you want? How do you tell them you hate this? Stop now and everyone will be disappointed. We were in the proverbial rock and hard place. We were so close to perfection and so completely miserable at the same time.
Luckily for us when our world fell apart we had a knight in shining armor that rescued us, not once, but twice. Mr. Harbin is without a doubt the best thing that has ever been ours and marrying him may have been the best decision we've ever made. From the grips of an eating disorder to abuse to being our own worse enemy, he stood by us and gave our life a constant that shown like a lighthouse beacon. These days, he's standing by us once again as we close one chapter in our lives and open a new one. Our military days are coming to an end and we're chasing our own dreams for once instead of the dreams that others think we should have.
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| If it makes you happy who cares what everyone else thinks. Their approval is not needed. |
Between modeling, designing, painting, doing makeup or whatever else we come up with we're finally saying screw what everyone else thinks! This is our life and we only get one chance. Perfection is boring. Be yourself. Don't get us wrong it's scary to jump off the deep end and be different. In fact, we've had days where it is downright terrifying. But it's totally worth it. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to the interpretation of you. You get to decide who you are. If there is something you don't like, change it. The only persona standing in your way is you. Fall in love with as many things as possible, but most importantly, fall in love with yourself.
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