I pride myself on being one of the few teenage girls who's confident in her body. I embrace my curves and look at my stomach the way that a kindergartner would: with love, acceptance, and adoration. I'm not going to lie, it took years for me to be able to look in the mirror and love what I saw (and that's a story for another article -- one that was not due three hours ago).

I'm happy where I am right now, but what people don't tell you is that accepting your body doesn't mean you don't have bad body days where you look in the mirror and mold your stomach into different contortions, pressing it flat against your ribs, hoping and praying that the extra fat would disappear. It just means that you have fewer of them.

It means that you look in the mirror and say, "I am beautiful. I love this body of mine," a little bit more than you used to. It means that you don't feel bad when you eat cupcakes and have multiple days in a row where you sit in bed and binge-watch Netflix. It means that you put on your favorite dress or pair of pants and begin to see what other people see when they look at you (hint: it's a beautiful woman). It means that your days get better because you're not constantly worried about what people think about you. It means that you exude confidence in situations where you never thought you could or would.

And on the days when I'm back to sitting in front of the mirror, contorting my stomach into different, "more perfect" shapes, blaming my body shape for any inconveniences that came up that day, I look at these quotes to remind myself that I am beautiful and strong and intelligent and have so much more self-worth than I realize.

1. "You not finding me attractive is not going to stop me from being attractive." - Tumblr user, farfrompaid

2. "You is kind, you is smart, you is important." - "The Help"

3. "Repeat after me: I am a goddess. My spirit is towering, my soul is mighty, my breasts are magnificent, and my shoes are super fucking cute." - Tumblr user, dear-monday

4. "Once you've accepted your flaws, no one can use them against you." - Tyrion Lannister

5. Falling in love with yourself first doesn't make you vain or selfish, it makes you indestructible." - Unknown

6. "One day I decided that I was beautiful, and so I carried out my life if I was a beautiful girl. I wear colors that I really like, I wear makeup that makes me feel pretty, and it really helps. It's doesn't have anything to do with how the world perceives you. What matter is what you see. Your body is your temple, it's your home, and you must decorate it." - Gabourey Sidibe

7. And, my current personal favorite,