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Another book tag! and an award one, at that! I want to begin by thanking Vinny at Artsy Draft for nominating me! Words cannot express my gratitude – you’re an absolute queen! So, I have never heard of this award/tag so I had to read over Vinny’s explanation a few times. From what I understand, it’s basically a venture into self-acceptance and love. It is acknowledging your flaws and your weaknesses and transforming them into personal strengths, and aspects of yourself to celebrate. I honestly think this is so beautiful and I am extremely grateful, again, for Vinny for thinking of me and my little ol’ blog! Send her lots and lots of love, my friends!

From what I understand, and from Vinny’s own post, the Flawesome Award was originally created by Sophia Ismaa. She described the award itself as the process of self-empowerment:

How many times do we see an award that celebrates all things bright and shiny and sunny in a person? How often do we forget that our weaknesses can be a strength? Our flaws make us human, our flaws tell us more about who we are, and in turn we turn those flaws into awesome strengths. In short, our flaws make us #flawesome

How incredible is that? So, what are the rules of the Flawesome Award?

The Rules:

Write about 3 of your flaws or weaknesses

Turn it into a positive thing or strengths

Nominate 10 other bloggers for this award.

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1. I’m an extremely anxious person. This has more to do with my mental health than anything, but it could be considered as a ‘weakness’, and in the past, I viewed it as such. I’m planning on a future blog post which explores this aspect of myself in the future, but I have been diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder with Panic Attacks, and it was and still can be, crippling. My anxiety can be triggered randomly; it could be stress or feeling overwhelmed from university work or it could be social situations. The number of times, for instance, I have had extreme panic attacks at shopping centres or on public transport, still astounds me. That’s just who I am, and I take medication so that my anxiety doesn’t completely overpower my everything and I can leave the house and be okay. But my battle with anxiety has made me such an incredibly strong person. It really has. My anxiety has shaped who I am today, and I am so much more open about my mental health with my family and friends that it has allowed such wonderful open discussions about mental health to occur. As a result of my own anxiety, I have also grown to understand the importance of listening. Although my anxiety can be disruptive, it has also enabled me to be strong, brave and empathetic.

2. I often don’t forgive myself. I seem to hold myself up to the highest standard, and if I fail to meet that standard, I am extremely critical of myself. I do think that this is partly related to my anxiety, but I am harder on myself and I strive for perfection. If I am unable to complete something to the level that I believe it should be completed, I just go obsessively focus on my mistakes and the things which I could have done better. This makes university sometimes extremely overwhelming, with respect to work and assignments – and, if I am honest, it can be so disheartening. How is this a strength? Well, when I am motivated to do so, I am hardworking. I enjoy the process of research and writing, I enjoy cultivating something out of nothing, that’s one of the awesome aspects of this weakness. It has enabled me to approach what I do in my life with passion. I am only now, however, starting to be slightly less critical of myself and it is liberating, I have to admit. Now that my university degree is over, there isn’t a desperate need to prove myself – it’s just me and my blog now.

3. I don’t sugarcoat my words. I have always been told that my face is hella expressive. Not only that, I tend to tell people the truth – and this can be quite blunt and in your face. If I don’t agree with you, I will tell you. If you ask me for the truth, I will give it to you. That’s it. I place this as a weakness because I can be ignorant of how what I am saying impacts the other person. It can seem quite ‘bitchy’ and that is not how I want to be or how I want to be perceived. In terms of how this is a strength, is that first and foremost, the filter between my brain and my mouth is now modified – in that, I have one. I take the time to consider my words before I belt them out. If I don’t agree with you, I will tell you after thinking of why I don’t agree with you and said in a way that is not offensive – unless you are an utter sexist, homophobic idiot, then all bet’s are off. On the other hand, people around me know that I am an honest person who will always embark on telling you the truth.

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Whew! That was a lot. So that’s it for today, my loves! For this award, I’ll nominate five bloggers, only because I’ve been an incessant tagger on twitter and I feel bad:

♥ Angela at HidingBehindBooksBlog

♥ Lili at Lilisblissfulpages

♥ Rejitha at Bookbugworld

♥ Tara at Blogaboutalatte

♥ Tree at Wordsaboutwords

If you are going to do the tag, please tag me on twitter so I can see!!

 

Until next time! Happy reading!

 

Allie

xx

 

 

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