Mary J. Blige on what she did to be “happy with herself and happy with her life”

Mary J. Blige has been working hard at her craft for years, but she’s finally in a place where she can accept accolades. In an interview with People, the singer revealed she attained her current state of mind with the help of a daily routine.

The routine, she explains, starts in the morning when she wakes up, looks in the mirror and greets herself with, “Good morning, gorgeous,” which also happens to be the name of one of her songs.

“Sometimes my eyes are all closed up,” Mary says. “But I strain to see myself. It’s not about the vanity of it, it’s about how we’re strengthened. No one can love me like me. Nobody can.”

“I do it in my prayer time. There’s no makeup, no nominations for an award,” the singer continues. “It’s just me and God. And the beauty of being able to say, ‘I appreciate my life.’ To look in the mirror, my eyes are half closed, and say something to myself that I never even believed.”

Mary says she didn’t always care about or love herself. But then she realized that “you get what you’re giving yourself.”

“Now that I’m giving to myself, I’m getting it all,” she explains, adding she’s modestly taking it all in. “I can receive all the gifts. I can accept it all with humility and with confidence because I’ve been working so hard all my life — really, really hard.”

The singer’s self-love and focus on self have also resulted in her current state of happiness.

“Mary J. Blige is happy. Happy with herself and happy with her life,” she says. “And she’s got a new focus: ‘me.'”

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