Joanna Gaines is marking the release of her new children’s book, The World Needs Who You Were Made To Be, with a throwback photo and a message to her younger self. The decor and design expert recently wrote her second book for kids, which is meant to let young children know that their authentic self is important and valued.
Gaines wrote her book after raising her five children and watching them learn, grow, and accept themselves, and in the process, she’s created an undoubtedly important message for youngsters. The Fixer Upper icon also included a very sweet message that she wishes she could give her past self. Gaines shared that she would love to be able to back and tell herself that even though she may be a shy and self-conscious person at the time, she was already good enough.
“So as I sit here now, with years of living and learning behind me, I want so badly to go back in time to that little girl—a little girl who happens to be half Korean and shy and a little bit self-conscious—to tell her that not only is she good enough, but she is extraordinary,” Gaines wrote in the caption of the post. “I want to go back and tell her to be kind to herself because the world needs exactly who she was made to be.”
It’s a lesson that’s clearly close to Gaines’ heart, as she’s spoken about her struggles growing up. “If you haven’t heard my story, my mom is full Korean and my dad is Caucasian,” she explained to Darling earlier this year. Kids in kindergarten would make fun of me for being Asian, and when you’re that age, you don’t really know how to process that; the way you take that is, ‘Who I am isn’t good enough.'”
Now, as she’s able to see her newest book roll out in stores and with the 2021 rollout of her and her husband’s very own Magnolia Network in sight, Gaines certainly has proved that once you accept who you really are, the sky’s the limit.