This article is dedicated to my friend and my angel in heaven who recently lost her battle to her eating disorder. You were beautiful on earth and you are still shining beautiful in heaven.
Eating disorders or body image issues are not a joke, they can end up taking over your life or even taking your life, and a lot of people don't think about it that way. A lot of people don't realize that this is a mental problem that can end up killing you.
There was a point in my own life where I thought if I continued what I was doing to my body, I was going to die.
Each and every day try to love yourself just a little bit more, and instead of picking yourself apart and tearing yourself down, find what you like about yourself and build yourself up.
Life is short and you should fill it with as much happiness and love as you can, and that all starts with you.
To my friend whom this article is dedicated to, may you rest in peace and may you see all the amazing qualities and goodness in your heart that made you, you, on the inside.
I am not the skinniest in the room anymore, and that is OK.
I don't have to order a salad every time I go out, and that is OK.
I don't have to go to the gym every day, and that is OK.
I don't have to check my body in the mirror every day, and that is more than OK.
I don't have to make myself throw up anymore, and that is more than OK.
I don't have to compare myself to my friends or other people anymore, and that is more than OK.
I don't have to let an eating disorder control all aspects of my life, and that isn't OK, it's amazing.
After recovering from an eating disorder, body image and loving yourself are the last and most difficult steps to break your habits and behaviors.
Even if you are not recovering from an eating disorder, it's extremely difficult to love your own body, to love yourself in the first place.
A person's body, girl or boy, is not built to be society's definition of "perfect."
I write this from my own experience; an eating disorder or negative self-image takes a lot away from someone. It takes away so much of what you are worth.
Thinking negative thoughts about the way you look or the way you appear to other people is a waste of your time. There is nothing you need to change and if anyone tells you that or makes you feel like that, then they are a waste of your time.
Surround yourself with people who make you feel good, and try to think about what you love about yourself. Your body is only the outside of who you really are...
Your body is supposed to protect you, take you places, dance, run; it's not supposed to be obsessed over and abused. Love what you have, love yourself because you don't need to change one thing.
There is only one "you" in this world.
You're already more beautiful than you could ever imagine, try to start to appreciate that.