There was a time when you were five years old,
and you woke up full of awesome.
You knew you were awesome.
You loved yourself.
You thought you were beautiful,
even with missing teeth and messy hair and mismatched socks inside your grubby sneakers.
You loved your body, and the things it could do.
You thought you were strong.
You knew you were smart.
Do you still have it?
The awesome.
Did someone take it from you?
Did you let them?
Did you hand it over, because someone told you weren’t beautiful enough, thin enough, smart enough, good enough?
Why the hell would you listen to them?
Did you consider they might be full of shit?
Wouldn’t that be nuts, to tell my little girl below that in another five or ten years she might hate herself because she doesn’t look like a starving and Photoshopped fashion model?
Or even more bizarre, that she should be sexy over smart, beautiful over bold?
Are you freaking kidding me?
Look at her. She is full of awesome.
You were, once. Maybe you still are. Maybe you are in the process of getting it back.
All I know is that if you aren’t waking up feeling like this about yourself, you are really missing out.
Amelia says Good Morning.
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Update: As I type this, on Sept 15, this post has 412,00 views. I hope that means 412,000 people choosing to live their awesome.
With all the fanfare, since Pigtail Pals is a tshirt company for kids…..we made up some tshirts full of awesome. I hope you like them.
You can buy them HERE. 3 designs, 10 colors, sizes infant – adult.
861 Responses to “Waking Up Full of Awesome”
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I had forgotten all about my awesome and how full of awesome I was when I was that very same little girl with missing teeth and mis-matched socks. She is still inside of me. It’s time to wake her up. Thank you for the inspiration.
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If you ever decided to have this printed large-scale to be framed, I’d gladly purchase multiple copies. I have a lot of friends who’ve lost their awesome and could use this reminder. I’d like it to be the first thing we all saw when we first opened our eyes in the morning.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us.
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Daria Reply:
April 30th, 2012 at 12:16 pm
I was just thinking the same thing! I would love a poster with this to hang in my daughter’s bathroom!
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Lindy Reply:
June 13th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
Me too!!! As a mother of a teenage girl that has struggled with an eating disorder, and myself, at over 40 who still struggles with self-image, this is so great! Thank you
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Very cool.
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[...] I want my kid to be whatever she wants to be. And should she choose, some day, to focus on being the girliest girl that ever was, then, god help me, I will attempt to support her. But only after I am damn sure that she knows she has the ability to be anything else. Or better yet, that she doesn’t have to be only girly, she can be girly and strong, girly and smart, girly and athletic, girly and awesome. [...]
I think I’ve just found my 2012 New Year’s Resolution – find my awesome! Thank you
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Can we get that on posters in every junior/high school in the country? You rock. Thank you for being AWESOME!
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You have no idea how often I have used this phrase ever since my 4 year old’s Godmother turned me onto it and your blog. I use it for myself and to defend my girls when they are criticized by friends, MY firends and yes, even family members. I will not sit around and allow my daughters to be made to feel inferior because they choose to wear stripes with polka dots or go to the grocery store dressed as a princess or Scooby Doo, when they decide to play with cars or build with blocks or be the girlest of girly girls. I want them to be individuals, not scuplted by society. THANK YOU and keep the awesome coming!!
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melissa Reply:
January 3rd, 2012 at 10:49 pm
Thank you, Lisa!
Your girls sound amazing. Stripes with polka dots (in clashing colors of course) is a must at our house! High five those girls for me, and know in your heart that they are full of awesome because your limitless love allows them to be.
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[...] The blog’s author, Melissa Wardy, shared this photo and the story of how her daughter woke up “full of awesome” and how each of us should pursue being “full of awesome.” I became an instant fan. The tagline [...]
[...] instead of thinking “I’m a dork,” I’ll try to think “I’m full of awesome” [...]
Hello Melissa
I feel children are a mirror of there parents,so you must be FULL of Awesome! Thx for sharing, i stumbled upon your blog via Pinterest!
Cadischa from Amsterdam, Holland
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[...] my “awesome” in 2012. This year is all about waking up every single day feeling full of awesome! I have to begin with me. I have to invest in Sofia. Nothing is more important than [...]
[...] None of us is perfect and we are all doing the best we can. Let’s remember this about our neighbors too – the ones we know and the ones we don’t. I hope in my lifetime that it will no longer be important to a woman to have a man say to her, “You are better at this than you think you are,” which is what former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said to incoming Press Secretary Dana Perino when she took over for him. It’s always nice when someone else has confidence in you, but it would be nice if we didn’t need them to have it and I hope that we all learn to wake up full of awesome. [...]
I wasn’t that way at 5.
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Overit Reply:
March 2nd, 2012 at 2:46 pm
Me neither…something about being sexually molested and told your fat and ugly by family members kinda takes it outta you at that age…bless all who had Awesome at age 5. the god news is I have awesome now cause I have learned how to identify with those who hurt, and know I that I have the compassion and capabilities to assist others thru their pain. Most of all I have chosen to to be happy and spread that happiness to those around me as much as possible. Mostly, I think, It is a choice to be/feel awesome. You have that option to define yourself..if you want to be awesome…then don’t just talk the talk…walk the walk..be awesome not just for yourself…but others (its contagious)
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[...] champion/advocate for kids. There is nothing that pisses me off more then when kids feel less then awesome every day. Mostly my heart goes out to girls because I have 3 and I see how society and media can [...]
Thank you so much I remember that feeling and somewhere inside it was hidden but thanks to you I found it and and hope I never lose it again !
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Love this!!!! very appropriate for “us gals” of all ages!! I will remember this tomorrow morning
Thanks.
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Shirley Reply:
February 28th, 2012 at 7:05 am
Hi Everyone, I’m another Shirley and I ditto the above Shirley’s comment. Thanks I needed to see this today as I was feeling very down and invisable today. I will think good thoughts today and hopefully keep it up for the rest of the duration. Have a good one and many more!!!!
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[...] my “awesome” in 2012. This year is all about waking up every single day feeling full of awesome! I have to begin with me. I have to invest in Sofia. Nothing is more important than [...]
[...] fell in love. I fell in love with the waking up in the morning absolutely full of awesome. With the feeling that I have when I’m absolutely exhausted after a workout. With the smile I [...]
i lost my awesome, but i reclaimed it with a vengeance!
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[...] and woman alive, and in fact, all boys and men too. And that includes all of you, so here it goes: Waking Up Full of Awesome There was a time when you were five years old, and you woke up full of awesome. You knew you were [...]
AWESOME!
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I hope you don’t mind but I encorporated this into my own blog. This is amazing and all girls, teens, women (boys and men included) should read it. Thank you so much for writing this. Your daughter is AWESOME!!!!!
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[...] something from one of my favorite blog posts I uncovered a few months [...]
[...] She wakes up every day singing and full of awesome. [...]
I’m getting my “awesome” back, and I so believe you. I’d rather my daughter be smart and bold any day! I think we all need to live with the confidence in our life that prooves to us that being us is wonderful!!!
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[...] Awesome girl full of awesomeness! [...]
[...] blog Pigtail Pals reminds us that we start life believing that we are awesome. We need to find ways to keep that [...]
I found this post via pinterest a few months ago and I was inspired! I have been thinking of writing something simular and using the FULL OF AWESOME as my new motto…then I was re-reminded (yes I made that word up) of your post when I found a picture of myself at 5 or 6 in a bathing suit, heart shapped glasses hand on my hip and full of awesome! I am working on getting my awesome back!!
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Your right! She is awesome, and so is my daughter, and so am I, and so are you! Your right again, sometimes we let other people tell us we are not, but then, out of a clear blue screen, somebody like you pops up to remind us! Thanks for the reminder!
Embrace life, embrace your awesomeness! What a wonderful reminder! Thank you!
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I totally love this! I am twenty-one and in the midst of still trying to keep my awesome. I try to remind myself every day and it is hard sometimes, but i think it is important. Reading this definitely brightened my life today.
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[...] Pals: A blog dedicated to changing the way we think about girls. Her post, Waking Up Full of Awesome, is one that I regularly share with friends when I want to spread a little Bliss. After reading it, [...]
[...] a fine line between confidence, assurance, and being “full of awesome,” which inspires, versus arrogance, which [...]
[...] None of us is perfect and we are all doing the best we can. Let’s remember this about our neighbors too – the ones we know and the ones we don’t. I hope in my lifetime that it will no longer be important to a woman to have a man say to her, “You are better at this than you think you are,” which is what former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said to incoming Press Secretary Dana Perino when she took over for him. It’s always nice when someone else has confidence in you, but it would be nice if we didn’t need them to have it and I hope that we all learn to wake up full of awesome. [...]
[...] well worth the read…take a minute and visit the full post at Pigtail [...]
what a great reminder…and I can definitely say that I don’t always wake up full of awesome, but i’m going to see what I can do to change that. Both of my babies still wake up full of awesome and perhaps it’s time to learn a lesson from them and attempt a more carefree attitude so they keep doing this.
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A friend just shared this on Facebook (with full credit given to this site), and I had to come out here to say THANK YOU. I don’t have a little girl, but I was that 5 year old, too… and this made me cry! I do have a little boy who could grow up needing to be reminded of *his* own awesome, though, and someday, the awesomeness of a wife or a daughter… THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
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Thank you for this, everyone needs to remember they are awesome everyday, and all mothers should be teaching this to their daughters no matter what age they are, especially if they are grown and forgot.
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[...] name of this blog is inspired by a blog post by Pigtail Pals – Redefine Girly, entitled “Waking Up Full of Awesome”. Seriously worth a look! “Choose to be [...]
[...] you’re just looking for a swift kick in the pants, read “Waking Up Full of Awesome.” In 216 words, it’s a reminder to wake up tomorrow ready for everything the world [...]
[...] media literacy, marketing, sexualization, gender stereotypes, and body image. It is home to the Waking Up Full of Awesome blog post that went viral and is currently hanging in my office. Feel free to buy me the [...]
OMG, made me cry. Yes, I use to be full of awesome but I let them take it away feom me. Even though I have tried for years to keep my head above water and maintain the girl I was, this message has made me see that I can do it.
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This is so sweet, but I don’t think I ever had “the awesome,” as a kid. I can remember hating myself from as early as 3 years old
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This post has inspired me, I was having a down day, really not feeling good about myself, at 21 years old, this has enlightened me, thank you
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Found this on Pinterest and followed the link back here to read the entire entry. Hope ur little girl nvr loses her awesome! Thx for posting
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[...] The blog’s author, Melissa Wardy, shared this photo and the story of how her daughter woke up “full of awesome” and how each of us should pursue being “full of awesome.” I became an instant fan. The tagline [...]
[...] (Re-Posted from Pigtailpals.com) [...]
This is so true and so INCREDIBLE! I’m painting this on our wall so we see it everyday! Thank you, thank you a million times! Much love!
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[...] grown women actually do in today’s world. Later, the attention to a blog post she wrote about confidence made her realize that women need a boost of confidence, too. So she put yet another t-shirt into [...]
[...] Remember when you used to wake up, feeling FULL OF AWESOME? [...]
You’re fabulous.
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