BLOG HISTORY
SOMETHING NEW
January 1, 2015 Thursday
This winter season fur trimmings and reindeer leggings are so in
Photo of Karissa Hagemeister
Hello Beautiful,
Welcome to the new year, beautiful. I am sorry that my blogs have been few and far between over the past few months. The holidays definitely took over my life, more than I was expecting. I hope you had a great holiday season.
Even though I have not had the chance to blog much, I have thought about you and the blog often. Today is our blog’s one year anniversary. This past year, we have changed things around a few times and I am sure there will be more changes in the future.
With this new year, I want to focus more on the inner beauty of each of you. Each month I am going to focus on one topic and delve into it deeply. I will not be able to write every day as I had when I first started but I will do my best to blog at least every other day.
Right now it is better for us to focus a little more on our inner beauty. For January, we will blog about Your Worth & Value. This blog was started to help each of you see the true beauty that you already posses. In order to see that, you need to understand your worth and value.
We also will be doing small blurbs on the blogs and on our instagram that relate to fashion, beauty, health or fitness. Bringing Beautiful Back is under Kingdom Dezigns fashion line. We have joined under their facebook page and you will be hearing more about the progress with that throughout the year.
Be sure to tune in often this month and discover how amazing you really are. As always, I welcome any comments or messages from you. I would love to pray or talk with you anytime.
God Bless and Happy New Year!
Worth
&
Value
YOU ARE WORTH IT
January 4, 2015 Sunday
Hello Beautiful,
It breaks my heart to watch young ladies and even adult women move from one relationship to the next, or from one friendship to the next, trying to find worth in themselves by looking to other people.
I am guilty of that. I spent the majority of my life looking for my worth, looking for acceptance from others. I looked to my many different family members. Did not find it there.
I looked to friends as I got older and was placed in public school. Did not find it there. Moving into high school and through college, I looked to guys for my worth for acceptance. But in everyone’s eyes, I never seemed to measure up.
I was not good enough to be their girlfriend. I was not good enough to hang with this crowd or that crowd. I felt worthless.
Just be yourself because you are beautiful just as you are
Photo of Karissa Hagemeister
That is what happens when we look to everyone else to find worth and acceptance.
There is a secret when it comes to finding worth. You have to find it within yourself first before you can find it in anyone else. You will never be enough for anyone. You will never be the greatest. There are some places you will not be able to fill in people’s lives. That is okay because you were not made to. There are somethings you will not be able to do. That is okay too.
See the secret is, you are already worth it. You just have to see it for yourself and accept yourself. Life becomes so much more beautiful, brighter and happier when we are able to see our own worth and accept ourselves. You will even see how much more others accept you once you accept yourself.
You are worth it, beautiful.
It's not
up to
them
SUCCESS STORIES
January 5, 2015 Monday
There is always a light at the end of the tunnel.
Photo of Karissa Hagemeister
Hello Beautiful,
What makes one successful? Climbing the corporate ladder to the top? Making a six figure income? Is it about your job? Your career? The money you make? How you make it?
Success is something that each of us has to define for our own lives. What makes me feel successful will not necessarily make you feel that way. But success is not directly tied to your job or where you are in your career. You are not defined by what you do for a living or where you work.
Who you are is not what you do. Your worth goes far beyond that. Your position in your employment does not make you any better of a person than someone else and it does not make you any worse. It is just something that you spend a good chunk of your time doing.
You may be the President of some corporation or you may be the janitor. You may be in that position for the rest of your life but it is more common for people these days to shift careers or jobs every few years.
Don’t get stuck defining yourself by your job or your success at your job. Things can change. If you make your job your whole reason of existence, your worth in this life, and that job goes away, you will feel like everything you have has suddenly been swept away. Your identity, gone. Your hopes, gone. Your foundation, gone.
This is why we do not want to define ourselves and get our worth from the jobs we do and the success we achieve. There is more to your life and your worth than that, beautiful.
Who you are is not what you do
DON'T GIVE UP
January 7, 2015 Wednesday
Don't be afraid to wear all black. It is classy :)
Photo of Karissa Hagemeister
Hello Beautiful,
You are so precious, please do not give up on yourself.
When we look to other people or to things to get our worth or acceptance, we often find rejection. Not because we are unworthy but because most people only care about “number 1” themselves.
We can only bare so much rejection on ourselves until we collapse and give up. We do not give up on the pursuit of finding worth but we give up on ourselves.
It is a scary place when you give up on yourself. I have been there before. After experiencing so much rejection from a guy that was not sure whether he liked me or did not like me, I gave up on myself. I quit my life, my job. I could not smile. Couldn’t laugh. I did not care what I looked like and would just wear jeans and t-shirts with sweatshirts. I did not even bother to wear makeup. I slept as much as I could.
I went through three months of this. I could not really call it living. I did not do much of anything in that time of my life. I couldn’t.
Something weird and scary happens when you give up on yourself and deem yourself as worthless. It is as if the very life inside of you, drains out. There is nothing but a walking shell anymore.
When I was in that place, I felt trapped and I was sure I would be stuck there forever. That life as I once knew it was over. But that was not true and it is not true for you if you are in that place. You must push past that mindset and believe that you are worth it. You must give yourself worth.
Whatever you do, beautiful, do not give up on yourself.
You are worth it, don't give up
LOOKING GOOD
January 9, 2015 Friday
Hello Beautiful,
Looks are not everything. They are nice to have, of course. But looks do not make you who you are. They do not give you worth and they are not what your acceptance rides on.
Don’t get me wrong. I am a firm believer in taking care of yourself and I do think that women should keep up their appearance. However, I think as women, we tend to go a little too far in obsessing over our looks.
It is not our fault completely. The media is much to blame in insisting that we all must look a certain way, dress a certain way and do whatever we can to keep from looking old.
Elsa make up option #1
Photo of Karissa Hagemeister
However, there are some things that we cannot control. Some of us have been born with birth defects. Some have been injured and scarred in different accidents. None of us can stop aging. It does not make you any less beautiful or any less worthy.
It is a part of life. This is why we cannot base our worth or our acceptance on the way we look. Looks fade. But our worth lasts forever, only if we can understand that we are worthy without all the glitz and glam and make up.
You are beautiful, inside and out. But inside it what counts the most :)
Beauty
on the
inside
MONEY AND FAME
January 11, 2015 Sunday
New way to braid: curl your hair first and then braid it to the side for a more voluminous look
Photo of Karissa Hagemeister
Hello Beautiful,
Contrary to popular belief, money and fame do not give you worth as a person and cannot buy your worth.
Lives of celebrities are often over glamorized. What we do not see is how worthless many of them feel. This is why they turn to drugs, alcohol and ruin their lives and often times their careers and reputations.
It is easy to believe that if we had some substantial amount of money that we could do whatever we want and go wherever we want. And we think that would fill some void in us and make us worthy. It could place you higher on the social system scale of things but money, not put to good use, turns us into lonely and bitter people that have no sense of purpose. I do understand that money is essential to survive in this life. It is nice when I want to buy gifts for friends or myself but I also understand that the amount of money I have does not make or break my worth as an individual.
Fame is only ever portrayed in all it's glory. People that are famous do get a lot of fans, but they also get a lot of haters. Sometimes they get more rejection than acceptance. That makes them feel less worthy. Think about it, you could get tons of praise and compliments all day but one hurtful word will send your spirits crashing.
Many times people crave to be famous because they crave acceptance on a large scale. They are not prepared for the rejection that they will also get.
So as we are learning about worth, remember that no amount of money or lack of money can make you worthless. Your worth is held inside of you. And no amount of fame will give the acceptance you long for. You must accept yourself first and always hold on to that which you already believe to be true about you.
You are worth more than all the money in the world, beautiful.
Can't
buy your
worth
LABELS
January 13, 2015 Tuesday
Make a statement with your necklace
Photo of Karissa Hagemeister
Hello Beautiful,
Growing up, my family labeled me as shy and quiet. Friends in college labeled me as hyper and crazy. As we go through life, we are continually having labels placed upon us.
It is hard when others place labels on you, especially if they are friends or family. You feel like you know them and they know you well enough to give you that label. If they say that about me, than it must be true. You trust them and you trust the labels.
Guess what happens next? We start looking to those labels for our worth. But labels are limiters. They tell you that you are only so good, you cannot be any more or go any further. I believed that for the longest time. My family said I was shy and quiet so I was sure that that was all I was good for and would ever be.
I never realized that I could break past that and actually carry on conversations by myself. It wasn't until I started college that I realized they were wrong. But twenty or so years later, here I am and I do carry on conversations. I don't carry the shy label anymore and I am careful to accept any other labels that people want to put on me, or worse yet, labels I want to put on myself.
You may not think this is a big issue but this is one of the biggest things that hold us back from discovering our true worth.
Think back through the years. What does your family call you are say about you? What about friends, peers? Do they call you stupid, lazy, fat? Maybe they say you won't amount to anything.
Whatever is being said, even if you are the one saying it, know right now that it is not true. Begin to defy those labels. As long as you believe what they say, you will be stuck in that place. As soon as you stop believing them, the labels will no longer hold you back.
Get rid of those old,wrong labels and start adopting the labels: worthy, accepted, beautiful.
Who you are is not what they say
January 16, 2015 Friday
ELSA FOR A DAY
The Elsa costume I made
Photo of Karissa Hagemeister
Hello Beautiful,
Have you ever pretended to be someone that you are not? Or maybe you felt like acting differently than yourself for a day? You get a lot more attention than you do as your normal self.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to be Elsa, from Frozen, for a party for younger kids. For a few months I had been preparing. I made my own costume, practiced my hair and makeup. Watched the movie several times to pick up phrases, make up story lines and embody the character. I even practiced singing and talking like her.
The big day comes and I am so excited, but a little stressed out. I've never done this before and I question if I am able to pull it off. As soon as I stepped foot in the room, you could watch little mouths drop open. Seconds later, I was surrounded by a bunch of little girls and they were all just staring excitedly at me, many of them too scared to say anything. I spent two and a half hours with them, playing, singing and taking pictures.
It had made them so happy and the parents were thrilled. Friends and strangers blew up my facebook and instagram as I posted pictures last night. To say the least, I had a blast.
But an interesting thought camped out in my head for a short time last night and this has brought on the reason for this blog today. I thought, "People like me so much more as Elsa. Maybe I should adopt the characteristics of Elsa and be her as often as I can. Then people will like me a lot more often." It is just another way to say, people do not see me as worth much when I am myself, so let me be someone else and get more attention and acceptance.
That is a lie. Yes, it is fun to play and be someone that I am not. I do get a lot more attention and acceptance. But maybe it is because I am putting myself out there more than I normally do. That is true.
If I decided to be Elsa all the time, people would get used to it and it would become less exciting for them. I would have to change my character again to keep their attention. That is the way we are. We like something new. That is why everyone was so excited that I was Elsa. It was new and crazy for them to see me that way.
So play, use your imagination, switch it up sometimes but remember that you are worthy just as you are and as who you are. Be yourself, beautiful, everyone else is taken.
Caught up in the attention
SOCIAL MEDIA BRAIN GAMES
January 18, 2015 Sunday
Hello Beautiful,
Social Media is an excellent thing. It has made life much easier for friends and family to connect with each other. It has reunited old high school sweethearts. It has given businesses a new way to market to and entice their costumers.
However, their are some things going on behind the scenes that social media (whether or not they are trying to) is doing and that we are not quite aware of.
How often do you post pictures just to get likes or comments? How often, when you do post those pictures, do you feel sad because you did not get as many like as you had hoped? How often do you compare yourself, your posts, with other friends/frienemies and feel like you do not measure up?
Well, social media (though I love it) has created these games that we play in our mind and they are not the healthiest of sorts for us to be focusing on. Here are the 3 top lessons that social media is teaching us, that we should unlearn, for our own good:
Don't be afraid to be yourself. You are unique, amazing, beautiful and completely worth it :)
Photo of Karissa Hagemeister
It's a
popularity
contest
We are
all
worth it
1. Life is a popularity contest. It is all about the amount of friends you have, the amount of likes you get, the comments people leave you. It is a constant comparison between you and your best friend. This teaches us that their is no value in friendships and it makes it really hard to find value in ourselves or others.
2. It is all about putting on a show. You can make your life and yourself look really good on social media. It makes it much easier to cover up your true feelings and what is really going on. It makes it harder to express how you feel and get help when you need it most. This teaches us that we must always look good and how we really feel does not matter.
3. You are not good enough. When you post comments or pictures and you do not get a response, or maybe you only get one like, you can feel like you are not good enough. Maybe people do not like you. Maybe they did not like something you wrote. So you think to yourself, I should not post pictures like that any more or say things like that. Let me change and be more like _______ because they always get a hundred or more likes. This teaches us that if we do not measure up, there must be something wrong with us and so we had better change or we will never be worth it.
I hope you see where you have given into these brain games and make yourself more aware of thoughts that might trickle into your mind. When these thoughts come, just laugh out loud and remind yourself that you are worthy. I love you, beautiful, and you are so worth it.
FINDING WORTH
January 20, 2015 Tuesday
I love that I have a passion for others to see their true potential and worth. What do you love about yourself?
Photo of Karissa Hagemeister
Hello Beautiful,
Your worth must first be found by you before anyone else will be able to see it.
For the past few weeks we have taken a close look at worth. We have explored many scenarios as to where your worth does not lie, who does not have a right to tell you whether you are worthy or not and what to watch out for when searching for your worth.
The beginning sentence of today’s blog may sound like an easy feat to accomplish. However, as I am sure you are aware, we are our biggest worse enemy, our biggest critic.
That is why, today, I am giving you three ways to make it easier to see your worth in yourself. This may help the process a little more at finding your worth.
1. Mirror Obsession. Every time you look into the mirror, find at least two things that you like about yourself. For every negative comment that pops into your head, you must combat it with another positive appraisal of yourself. Try this for a few weeks and see if your attitude starts changing.
2. Take Notes. Get pretty cards or a plain piece of paper (whatever you like) and come up with at least ten things that you love about yourself (looks, personality, character, morals ...). Then write one thing really big statement on each card and attach them to places that you visit numerous times a day (mirror, fridge, bed table ...). Make sure to read the cards every time you see them.
3. Get Out of the Game. As women, we tend to compare ourselves with every other woman that we see in person, on TV or in a magazine. This is very unhealthy. So quit. You can compare your current self to your past self and examine the change and the progress you have accomplished. But STOP comparing yourself to others. Your worth is not correlated to anyone else but yourself.
These are all great exercises for us to do often. It helps remind us that we do need to care for ourselves. There is more to us than being a friend, wife, mother, or our career. We are each unique individuals and we are worth it, beautiful.
Find
your
worth
WHO I AM
January 22, 2015 Thursday
Fashion Tip: Start pulling out those pastels and florals. Spring is right around the corner
Photo of Karissa Hagemeister
Hello Beautiful,
I have another great song for you today. This one is by Blanca, who used to be a part of Group 1 Crew.
The song is called, "Who I Am" and it relates with all the things we have been discussing this month. I have put the lyrics and the youtube video below. So enjoy and remember that you are beautiful and so worth it. :)
Blanca - Who I Am
Another voice, another choice
To listen to words somebody said
Another day
I replay
One too many doubts inside my head
Am I strong
Beautiful
Am I good enough
Do I belong
After all
That I've said and done
Is it real
When I feel
I don't measure up
Am I loved
I'm running to the One who knows me
Who made every part of me in His hands
I'm holding to the One who holds me
‘Cause I know whose I am, I know who I am
I am sure I am Yours
Turning down
Tuning out
Every single word
That caused me pain
Unashamed
And unafraid
‘Cause I believe You mean it when You say
I am strong
Beautiful
I am good enough
I belong
After all
‘Cause of what You've done
This is real
What I feel
No one made it up
I am loved
I am sure I am Yours
I know who I am
I am sure I am Yours
Fearfully
Wonderfully
Perfectly
You have made me
Know
who you
are
WHO CREATED YOU?
January 24, 2015 Saturday
Hello Beautiful,
Him who created you is the only one who has the power to give you worth.
God created each person on this planet, that includes you. With each person he created, he made them unique, individual. He placed worth on each of us.
We were created with worth. We were born with worth. You already have worth. You cannot get it from anybody else. You do not need to get it from anybody else.
To understand that you are already worthy, to live your life without searching for worth, you must live as you. Be proud to be yourself. Do not live as a copy cat of someone else or a carbon copy designed by the media.
It takes a brave person to be themselves. Why does it require bravery? Most people do not know how to be themselves. They know how to be who everyone tells them to be. The person that knows who they are, knows their worth, defies all the lies that everyone tries to force on them and lives happily and freely as themselves.
So before you go looking for worth from others, remember that your creator already gave you all the worth you will ever need.
You are worth it, you are beautiful. Have a great weekend!
Do not be afraid to be who you are.
Your Creator gave you worth
WHY AM I WORTH IT?
January 26, 2015 Monday
Hello Beautiful,
This whole month I have been telling you over and over again that you are worth it. The majority of you may have just taken my word for it and thought, “Yes, I am worth it,” or at least you want to believe that you are worth it.
What if someone out there is wondering, why am I worth it? She keeps telling me that I am worth it. She has told me where my worth does not come from. She has told me that my Creator gave me worth, but why?
Why are you worth it?
I will give you three questions to ask yourself, to help you determine why you and every person that reads this blog post is worth it:
Snuggle up with a beautiful scarf, a cup of coffee and read my blog :)
Photo of Karissa Hagemeister
Let's
think
about it
-
Are you a mass-produced robot? Most likely, the answer is no. So in that case, you are a human being. Which means that you have your own flaws, your own unique abilities, your own desires, your own everything. You are a one-of-a-kind, are you not?
-
Do you have something to contribute to the world? Everyone should answer yes to this question. You may not be able to think of anything at the moment but each and everyone of us has so much to offer to the world, we just have to find out what it is. Don’t get lost thinking about what the world can offer you (that is a topic for another day).
-
Are you alive? Obviously, yes you are. Since you are living, you have a purpose on this earth. Everyone has a purpose, a reason for being here. God is not only your Creator that gives you worth but he is also the one that gives you purpose. He has given each of us a job to do and we won’t accomplish it if we do not first realize that we have worth. (We will focus on Purpose at a later time).
So there you have it, beautiful. Three questions to get you thinking and start believing that you already are worth it. No work required.
SHARE THE LOVE
January 28, 2015 Wednesday
Hello Beautiful,
Whether you have come to accept it or not, beautiful, you have worth. No more and no less than anyone else.
As we have spent the month of January really digging deep into the topic of worth, I hope that you have been able to decipher between your worth and the lies. If you are not completely convinced that you are worth it, keep building yourself up, accepting yourself and read back through this month’s blogs if you need to.
With any good thing, it is important to share what you have found to be true about yourself. It is true for all those surrounding you. Whether you have really accepted yourself as worthy or not, start realizing other people’s worth and make a point to share.
Let everyone know that they have worth #sharethelove
Photo of Karissa Hagemeister
Here are three groups of people that need you to tell them they are worthy and accepted, they need the truth, so share the love:
-
Your Children - the time to start telling children how much they are worth, how much they are loved and accepted is as soon as they pop out of the “oven.” This is the biggest make or break time in their lives. It is extremely crucial, that as a parent, you let them know that you think the world of them and you accept them.
-
Your Family - sisters, mothers, spouses, aunts, cousins. They all need to hear it. Just as you need some reassuring and just as I do, they do as well. Maybe they act like they have it all together or maybe they are as insecure as I was in high school. No matter what front they put up, they need to know that they are worth it and accepted.
-
Your Friends - sometimes friends are closer than family. But no matter the case, we should always tell the truth to our friends. The truth is they need to know they are worth it and accepted too.
Continue to share the love and acceptance to everyone that you know. Everyone needs it. We are all worth it, after all. Think of creative ways to share their worth - write them letters, leave them little presents with a note that says “You Are Worth It.” However you do and whatever you do, remember that we are all worth it.
BEST IS YET TO COME
January 30, 2015 Friday
Say "Bye"
to
January
Hello Beautiful,
January is coming to a close already. Does anyone else feel like that month just flew by?
We have spent the past month talking about worth. I feel like we covered the topic fairly well. If you have any questions about anything relating to that or just want to discuss it with me, I would love to hear from you anytime.
Looking ahead, we are going to spend the month of February discussing love (we thought it would be fitting). This will be for the old, the young, the single, the married. Make sure to stay tuned often so you do not miss any of it. As always, feel free to message me anytime if you have questions, concerns or comments about what I am sharing.
Your worth is not based off the size of your waist.
Also in February, we will be introducing our (Kingdom Dezigns) small spring collection of clothing. And we would love your feedback on that as well. Everything we do is intended to bring beauty back into your lives so please let us know if we are missing the mark or right on target.
We have a genuine heart for all of our readers and we hope that you are growing through the blogs that we are sharing.
To wrap up the month, we have picked some special verses that talk about your worth. Read them, write them down, memorize them and take them as your own.
Jeremiah 31:3 “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love.”
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His (God’s) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.”
Have a beautiful weekend and never forget that you are precious, unique and loved.
