There is a saying: Don’t judge another’s outsides by your insides. When I first heard this saying I thought, I never do that! What a crazy thing to do. Then I realized, that I did this all of the time. How many times had I wanted a body just like another woman? A man who cared for me like a friend’s husband cared for her? Or a marriage that seemed to operate effortlessly? I had spent time-after-time in my life looking at what other people had. I looked at these people and believed that what they had was just what I needed to be happy. I began to wonder… What did other people see when they looked at me? Maybe other people looked at me and thought, “Wow, if I had what she had I would be really happy.” How silly is that! If they only knew. When they look at me and see a “put together” woman… do they know the whole me? Do they see the woman that spent years struggling with her husband’s addiction to drugs and alcohol? A woman who had to work two jobs and take care of two small child while putting herself through college? Do they see a woman who has just gone through a traumatic divorce? No. They see what I allow them to see. They see the image that I want them to see. The image that I project. Everyone projects an image but remember… it is just an image… It is not the whole person. Each one of us has trials and tribulations in our lives to walk through. No human being is free of suffering. No human being walks through life without pain. It is up to me to remember that just because a person looks happy… doesn’t mean they are happy. Just because a person looks put together… doesn’t mean they are put together. It is important to stop judging my insides by another person’s outsides. They do not have what I need. I have what I need. It is inside each and every one of us. “Dear God, help me to remember that what I need is inside of  me. I will not find happiness in what another human being has. Help me to accept that I am perfect just as I am.”