Over the weekend, we sat down with our dear friend Chi Debbie Collins, who also happens to be a former beauty queen and a successful entrepreneur. With our cute ‘Unpack with Nay’ mugs between us, we talked honestly about all things self-love and confidence.
Surprising as it might be, confidence isn’t a guaranteed quality for a beauty queen. When we think of a beauty queen, we often make up images of perfectly poised women with not a hint of self-doubt in sight. But when Chi opened up about a time when she didn’t have such confidence, it took us by surprise. It felt almost impossible that someone who walked a global stage, representing her country, once dealt with her confidence.
She mentioned dealing with a lot of facial acne when she was younger and not being able to become a runway model because she didn’t fit the prescribed height. The words of a total stranger stuck in her head for a while, longer than it should have and had quite an effect on her confidence. This is something a lot of us can relate to, especially with social media and people sharing unsolicited opinions on everything that absolutely doesn’t concerned them.
I believe that every single one of us is born with an undeniable beauty – whether you wear a crown and a sash, or sit behind a computer all day. The roles we perform don’t determine our beauty, rather it’s our heart and our character.
Yet, we allow ourselves to believe other people’s negative opinions of us, even though they’re false. Eventually, these become our thoughts about ourselves. The voices in our head hang on to negative thoughts, sometimes louder than our affirmations of beauty and self-worth.
Beauty radiates from within. Cliché but true, like Chi Collins said. Regardless of the marks on your face or body, you are gorgeous. But what’s even more breathtaking is your spirit, your heart.
Chi discovered her key to tackle this ‘internalising the negative’. The mantra? Love yourself from within, make your inner-self attractive, and the outside naturally becomes radiant. And we’re definitely learning that and making sure to practice it.
It starts by getting familiar with who we truly are, knowing our feelings and values. For Chi, journaling played a crucial part in this. Putting her thoughts and feelings into words helped her navigate her way to self-love. And you know by now that we, at NayLiving are all about journaling!
Fast forward to today, Chi is in love with the woman she sees in the mirror. Not just because she is stunning but because she is someone she has gotten to know deeply, accepted and appreciated. Her days often include walks, journaling, praying and immersing herself in whatever sparks joy for her.
The first step towards self-love is truly getting to know ourselves. Understanding that making that conscious effort to discover our essence is already an act of self-love.
And so, we invite you, our beautiful friends, to start this journey too. Let’s all explore ways that feel most true to us. You can start writing a journal or go for walks alone. Honestly, just do what genuinely makes you happy and feel good. We can nurture our hobbies and the things we are passionate about. Slowly, we can form a deeper connection with our own self and love who we truly are.
Trust us, and more importantly, trust yourself. Self-love and confidence are within your reach. Because you are not just ‘another’, you are uniquely ‘YOU’, and you are indeed beautiful.
To watch our full conversation with Chi Collins, you can check out the ‘Unpack with Nay’ category on this site. All episodes from the show are uploaded.
