I don’t think I have ever been completely happy with my body.

The earliest I can remember caring about how I look was not positive. I was in fifth grade, a tiny little kid, and I thought I was fat. I thought I was ugly. I thought that there were a hundred things that I needed to change about myself. As a fifth grader.

Since then, I have never been completely satisfied with my body. I have felt at certain times that I looked good, that I was pretty, but I always felt that there was more to be done. I needed to lose just that little bit of tummy fat; I needed to travel through puberty just a little bit faster. I am nineteen years old, and I have no idea how it feels to be completely satisfied with what I look like.

Even worse, this is not an isolated incident. In fact, I have yet to meet anyone who hasn’t had similar thoughts – I have never met anyone is perfectly happy with their body. Why is this? Why are we constantly comparing ourselves to other people? Why do we torture ourselves?

Many blame media and magazines and advertisements that plaster our minds with body images that are nearly impossible to achieve. But I was a fifth-grader when I started to think of myself as imperfect. My ability to see that kind of media was limited. I am not denying that these sources play a huge role in determining the way we perceive our bodies. But these photo-shopped images of perfect bodies have integrated every aspect of our lives. The children of our society are suffering because of this.

However, what is to be done? How do we reverse the damage that has been done to our society? Can we? How do we actively work against our subconscious? I do not have the answers to these questions, but it is imperative for me, my friends and anyone who has ever doubted their worth because of the way their body looks to know that despite that little imperfection or those few pounds of extra weight, their worth is not dependent on their external features.