Janet Jackson’s New Book Is All About Knowing & Loving The “True You”

by Aiyana Ma’at  I am so happy that Janet Jackson is finding the strength and courage to truly know and love herself these days! Not only is she on the path of of love and self-acceptance but she’s sharing what some of her journey has been like with the world. For that I am grateful. I think that so many of us see a celebrity like Janet and think she’s got it going on, has no reeeal issues (like making ends meet, etc.), and she certainly can’t have self-esteem issues…as beautiful as she is.

But, Janet’s courage and recent words reinforce for me that we are ALL perfect imperfections. We are ALL hurt and broken in some way. We are ALL trying to make sense of our lives in some way. Some say the goal of adulthood is to get over and make sense of our childhood….no matter what your childhood was like. We are ALL in need of growth, insight, and in my opinion the love that only God can give that can heal like no other. Hats off to Janet for sharing her story! Everyone has a story to tell but many go to their grave with their story still untold. Will you tell your story—in some way or another. Somebody’s waiting for YOUR words and YOUR words only. ‘Cause I don’t have what you have and you don’t have what the next person has. We’ve all got our unique truth to tell. Don’t keep yours locked away!!

Check out an excerpt from Janet’s new book here:

“It’s important that I present myself just as I am. So I must tell you right away that I’m no expert. I have no psychic powers and I sure don’t possess any secret wisdom. I’m just Janet. I have strengths, weaknesses, fears, happiness, sadness. I experience joy and I experience pain. I’m highly emotional. I’m very vulnerable. And, as anyone who knows me well will testify, I’m extremely sensitive. I have lifelong patterns of behavior that have caused me difficulty—patterns tough to break. Like everyone, I have talents, but with those talents have come challenges.

This book is about meeting the challenges that face all of us.

For more than three decades, I’ve struggled with yo-yo dieting. Some of my battles with weight have been very public. But most of them have been internal. Even at my thinnest, when my body was being praised, I wasn’t happy with what I saw in the mirror or how I felt about myself.”

“I’m loved, I’m valued, and I’m capable of achieving balance in my life. I can learn to eat well. I can exercise. I can express gratitude for the simple act of being able to breathe in and breathe out. I can move away from darkness and depression to light and hope. I can be happy with who I am, not what I should be, or what I might have been, or what someone tells me I must be.

I am me, the true me; you are you, the true you—and that’s good. That’s beautiful. That’s enough.”

Janet was interviewed about True You by HLN’s Richelle Carey. That interview will air on HLN Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 7 and 10 p.m. ET. Mark your calendar! Buy her book HERE.