guest post: Cassie from Live.Laugh.Love

i'm so excited to be having Cassie from Live.Laugh.L0ve! guest posting today. Cassie is an incredible inspiration to me and truly one of the LOVELIEST & KINDEST girls you will ever meet!! i have had the pleasure of getting to know Cassie better these last few months and i'm always left so encouraged after talking to her. if you haven't checked out her blog or her shop you need to pronto!

today Cassie is sharing a very personal & inspirational story about learning to truly believe
WE ARE BEAUTIFUL!
this post hit home for me in so many ways.

i hope you take the time to read her amazing story and send some love her way!

and now here's Cassie!

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Hey ya'll! I'm Cassie and I blog over at Live.Laugh.L0ve!
I am so exciting to be guest posting on Megan's blog today! =D


I want to talk about something very real to me.

Vulnerability.
Insecurities.
Pain.

Shortly after I had my open heart surgery at two years old.
I developed spots.

Something that even to this day, 21 years later..
I struggle with.

The stares still hurt.
I grew up hating my body.
Literally hating it.

I hated wearing tank tops,
shorts
swim suits.

All because of this....



Some years I was perfectly fine with.
Well, that's a lie..I was okay with it.
I accepted it. Then I would go back to rejecting it
& hating it some more.

I hated being different. I hated that I was the odd one out.



Do you ever feel unpretty?
Take that and multiply it by a million.
That's how I felt everyday.




I've shared this on my blog before. I've shown a few up close pictures.
But nothing to this extent.
It scares me to put this out there.
To let myself be this Vulnerable.
But it's something I need to do.



It wasn't until I revealed it to my husband while we were dating that I started really becoming okay with it.


I remember bawling my eyes out when I told him,
in fear he would leave me. He wasn't not my husband then, we were dating.




When I told him this is what he said.
Hubby: "I already know."
Me: Stunned into silence before I looked into his eyes, "How?"
Hubby: "I have seen them when you climb out of my car and your shirt goes up in the back."

A fresh wave of tears flowed down my cheeks.
He knew & was still with me.

Me: "Why didn't you ever say anything or ask me about them?"
Hubby: "Because I figured you would tell me when you wanted too."
Me: "They don't disgust you."
Hubby: "No."




That was my turning point. The man I fell in love with accepted me.
I could face the world.
I'm happy to tell you that I do too.

But there are times when I still get stared at it and it still hurts.
It hurts to the core of my being sometimes.

But I try to remind myself that I'm beautiful, he thinks I'm beautiful, God thinks I'm beautiful.



Let me tell you something ladies.
it doesn't matter who is reading this.

You are beautiful
&
you matter.

Don't let anybody ever tell you differently.

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Cassie is offering all {And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson} readers
15% off everything in her shop
use code INSPIRE at checkout to get the discount

thank you so so much Cassie for sharing your story with us!
you have blessed my life by opening up about this and i'm sure you have blessed many others!



14 comments:

Mae said...

Cassie- Thank you so much for being so honest and real! You're absoluetly beautiful and your vulnerability is inspiring!!

MacGirl said...

Thank you for sharing, and being so honest and open about it. I had a nasty skin infection when I was 19 that has left me with lots of scars, mainly on my arms and legs. I get people ask, I used to lie but now I tell them. Those scars are part of me, something I wouldn't change! You are a true inspiration, thank you Megan for introducing us to Cassie.

macgirlsadventures.co.uk

Mrs. Darcy said...

A beautiful post from a beautiful woman-both inside and out!

aspiretoinspire

Emma Frances said...

Thank you for sharing! I can't imagine how hard this would be but you are beautiful and you have an absolutely wonderful husband! :]

Unknown said...

Cassie rocks! :) Such a heartfelt post girlie!

Cassie @ Live.Laugh.L0ve. said...

Megan -- Thank you so much for having me here today & for your sweet introduction!!

Ladies -- You had tears forming in my eyes & spilling over, thank you so much for all your kind words! Ya'll touched my heart so much today. THANK YOU!

Jessica Sebastian said...

Such a brave, sweet story. I loved it! Well done, Cassie.

Gentri said...

Megan was telling me about you last night, Cassie. She was saying how wonderful and inspirational you were and how I HAD to check out your blog. :) I'm so glad you did this guest post. It definitely lifted my spirits. Thank you.

Unknown said...

Such a powerful post! I appreciate her honesty and heart!

AbsoluteMommy said...

That was a powerful post. Thank you for sharing. It was very inspirational readin on a Sunday morning!

Jessica said...

What an inspiring and honest post. Thank you Cassie for sharing :)

claire said...

this is such a brave and inspiring post, cassie is beautiful x

Irene said...

you're beautiful and inspiring. cheers girl, you're strong. =)

Dus of Cuddly Cacti said...

Thank you for sharing this Cassie!! I'm sure it wasn't easy but I really think it's awesome how you put out your vulnerability like this, and I'm so happy to hear that thanks to your hubs you've accepted it. I certainly have no reason not to, but I can def relate to not accepting my body/aspects of myself physically until I realized how much my husband did.
http://dusanabotswana.com/