Friends, This is Tricia, Tricia, These are my Friends

Tricia, thank you for this guest post.  Thank you for who you are and how much you have touched my life.  Most importantly, thank you for putting into beautiful words how so many of us feel about our own confidence.  You are loved my friend!

For my dear friends and readers, meet Tricia Williford, you're gonna love her!

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Let’s start with an invitation: I’d like to invite you to stop being unhappy with yourself. To stop wishing you looked like someone else, or that people liked you as much as they like someone else, or that you could get the attention of people who hurt you. I’d like to invite you to stop second-guessing all of your decisions and commitments, to stop wondering if your life were different had you only chosen the mystery prize behind door number two. 

I’m writing to you working moms who think you’re not doing enough to be present at home, and to you stay-at-home-moms—to those of you who are unapologetically content at home, who worry about getting things right in your long days with the little people who hold your heart; and to the ones among us who miss working outside the home, who feel like you lost your confidence somewhere among crumbs and dirty diapers. I’m thinking of you single women who feel incomplete or not enough because you’re not married. I’m writing to you single moms who balance more than you were ever meant to carry alone, and to you women who live with a failure, a betrayal, or a loss that has stolen every bit of who you thought you were. 

I am inviting all of you, all of us, to a new conversation. I’d love to invite you to stop hating your body, your face, your figure, your hair, your freckles (or lack of them), your personality, your quirks. You’re worth more than these self-imposed opinions. It doesn’t matter when you began torturing yourself with criticism, but it needs to stop today. And here’s what I’d love to convince you of right here, right now: 

You can do this.

When you’ve finished reading this book, I hope you’ll think, This book made me think and laugh, and now I feel like I can do this next thing in front of me. I hope you’ll feel hope, courage, strength, encouragement, presence, freedom, and confidence to move forward into your life with the awareness that you were born for this. I hope, girl to girl and eye to eye, we can remember that we are called to claim complete confidence.  

Finding your confidence is a miracle. I know this because I found mine. And when I looked hard at the woman I’ve become, when I finally recognized the courageous warrior hidden in this frame, I was surprised by joy and astonished by awe. I want the same awareness for you.

Join me, girlfriend. Let’s do this. 

See you in the pages, 

Tricia

Reclaiming Confidence

Here I go.... I'm jumping back in with both feet! I almost just started a brand new blog... ( I am a little embarrassed by my extended leave of absence's) it has been almost three years you know.  Then I thought, this is my journey, this is who I am.  I'm not going to apologize for my lack of confidence that keeps me from writing, I'm simply going to write again.

What better way to reinsert myself into this blogging community once more, than to introduce you to a friend that I met via her blog, www.tricialottwilliford.com .  I say my friend, however, we have never met in person.  At least not yet :) 

I "met" Tricia Williford when I was walking through a very dark valley and was instantly drawn to her honest, transparent and open writing.  You see, Tricia was walking through a valley of her own. At 30 years old, she had just become a widow with two very small boys. The first blog post I read of hers was just days after suddenly loosing her husband.  Three hours later, a box of tissue and no makeup left on my face, I loved this girl. 

Her writing and her story have impacted my life more than I can describe.  So many of her dark days, mirrored many of mine; and her faith, perseverance, and "here I am for better or worse" attitude have been a profound encouragement to me over these last 6 years. 

Tricia's story is one of beauty from ashes and she has told it not only on her blog, but as a best-selling author.  Her books include, "And Life Comes Back", "Let's Pretend We're Normal", and her third book "You Can Do This".

I have been blessed to be a part of Tricia's launch team for "You Can Do This" and received my launch-team-copy (yes, I was very proud of this) a couple months ago.  

I have read the book twice, each time my pages get more and more colorful with notes, underlines, highlights, stars, exclamation marks and even some tear stains.

From the very first page of the introduction, you feel as though you have pulled up a chair with a friend who knows your heart, understands so many of your struggles, and genuinely cares for you.  Her passion for seeing women grow in confidence and be set free from all of the confidence "stealers" we have lived with, is so real, so heart felt, I promise you will fall in love with this amazing writer. 

Each chapter will give you a definition of "the confident girl".  What she looks like, who she listens to, who she allows to pull up a chair and have a voice in her head and heart, and then how we can step into that confidence.

The confident girl... 

• knows where her identity lies
• feels how she feels and is okay with it
• can be alone and even enjoy her own company
• is thankful for how God has created her
• chooses carefully who has influence over her

"You Can Do This" has been a game changer in my life.  It is real, it gets down to the root of our confidence struggles and then gives us hope that it doesn't HAVE to be that way.

If I can do this, I'm telling you... "You Can do This" too!

Available at Amazon.com