How I Love Myself Even With A Gap In My Teeth

You ever feel like there's something about you that makes you hesitate to really show up? Maybe it’s a gap in your teeth, a bad hair day, or something else you think people will judge you for. I’ve been there but the thing is these things are secondary and even tertiary to who you are being.

Currently, I have this big-ass gap in my teeth that isn’t very flattering. This is from the MARPE device that I got to expand my maxilla for better nasal breathing.

One of the phases of this process is a gap in the teeth. Mine is a big gap, I will say, due to a successful expansion.

People ask me, “Are you afraid to smile?” My answer is a simple no. For the past five years, the work I’ve been doing has been about deepening my love for life as a whole.

At the beginning, I didn’t know this, but now I’ve found my way to some degree. This is the same kind of situation I was in when I cut my hair in the summer. Of course, I look better with my hair and straight teeth, but the way I look is secondary to who I am being.

This may sound hippie-dippie, but when I say that who you are and who you are being is infinitely more powerful than what you have and do, I mean it.

I can be bald, in a wheelchair, have gap teeth, or even be in an elephant costume, and I would still love the fuck out of life. I would still kill this shit.

This type of frame is beyond anything most people will teach you. A lot of people say you need to look like this, act a certain way, have a certain physique, have x amount of money, and most of it is bologna. It’s not bologna because those things are bad. Go do all those things. It’s bologna because if you do them thinking that it’ll get you a certain result, then you’re overcompensating. “One more rep until I can be loved.”

Who you are being is where the real gold is. Don’t wait to have or do something to feel a certain way. A higher and more profound way of living is to focus on being first. At first, this sounds ridiculous, and in my case, I had to suffer through it to learn that you have full control over who you are being.

It took me five years to grasp this truth. You can’t have happiness, you can’t have love, you can’t have fulfillment. But you can be these things NOW. Life goes by so fucking fast. Whatever you want, be it now.

My value is based so much deeper than what I look like, what I have, or what I do. My value comes from who I am being.

So no, I’m not afraid to smile with this gap in my mouth. I have this one chance to be uniquely and authentically me. Why would I dare waste it on hating myself? That’s devilish activity. This gap in my teeth and the lisp in my voice at the moment make me want to improve even more.

Just know that overcompensating isn’t necessary. For instance, you don’t need a million dollars or six-pack abs to get a girlfriend or make friends. These are distractions from actually developing yourself into a cool person. What’s necessary is taking ownership of who you are being.

Keep on smiling, even with that gap in your teeth. ;)

Peace,

Koby