Positive changes! Jessica Simpson revealed how taking a look back at her life during the writing process of her memoir, Open Book, helped her learn to embrace and accept her past — and she shared a positive message to fans who may be going through similar life struggles.

Open Book has really given me that opportunity to make a change in my life and make a change in others’ lives with whatever they might be going through. I am just relatable,” the 39-year-old said during a panel at the Create & Cultivate Los Angeles Conference on Saturday, February 22.  “I am just like everybody else and go through all the same things. There are a lot of misconceptions. I don’t normally focus on those. I try and just own myself and now it’s doing it through a book and my words. It’s really been an incredible journey.”

jessica simpson wears a pink power suit at the create and cultivate conference
Christopher Polk/Invision/AP/Shutterstock

She went on to explain that her memoir allowed her to really be her authentic self and to tell her truth, and she shared details about how that process led her to self-acceptance. “What a blessing it has been, the whole experience of writing the book,” the “With You” singer continued. “Trying to understand myself at 15 years old, at 20 years old. Embracing the insecurities, the flaws, the mistakes, and accepting the fact that I’m not perfect is such a liberating experience to share with the world because I feel all of us women, in this business, all of us women, it’s simple. We just want to be ourselves and to be ourselves we really have to know that person and know who it is that we want to share with the world.”

Now that Jessica seems comfortable in herself and who she is as a businesswoman, fashion designer, a wife and a mother of three, she shared an important life lesson she’s learned with fans.

“We are all figuring it out and that’s okay. I think figuring it out is the fun part. It is through our mistakes that we can actually find the leader within us and to not be ashamed of some of the choices we’ve made,” the Jessica Simpson Collection owner added. “If they’ve been bad, just to own them and understand why we made those choices and to try to grow from them and really just have the perspective of being kind and gentle to yourself.”