Oh, my darling, you are worth so much more than you know.

I want you to know that, first and foremost, before you read on. This is about redefining where we find our worth.

So, read on.

It's hard to remember a time when social media wasn't a part of my life. I appreciate it, I really do. I think that social media can be a platform for good. I keep forgetting the meaning of good, though.

We are programmed for competition. Naturally, we compete with others, but we seem to be fighting ourselves, too. There's always someone we find to be prettier. There's always someone with more followers and more likes and more retweets and more attention. There's always the zit we didn't have yesterday and the picture we thought people would like, but they didn't, so maybe they don't like us either. Do they like us? Do they think we're pretty? Did we do something wrong?

Maybe you don't worry about these things; I hope you don't.

But I'd be lying to myself if I said I didn't.

I've always been a people pleaser. I've always sought self-affirmation through the reassurance of other people. I've always known that my weakness wasn't healthy, but there were times when it was clearer than others.

I've felt myself need people to think I'm nice and funny and pretty and happy and worthy. If they did, I could, too.

If they didn't, then should I?

What kind of mindset is that? In what world should young girls rely on the digital affirmation of others to find confidence within ourselves?

I've deleted my social media apps, sometimes for a month at a time, just to reevaluate my thoughts. It helped, but it didn't make the negative thoughts go away completely. I still got jealous. Correction: I still get jealous.

I still see other girls on social media. They're beautiful. They look perfect… to me.

What baffles me is that these beautiful people likely see themselves the same way I see myself. I've come to find that every person, no matter how beautiful, has struggles. They have insecurities. They have parts of their bodies that they don't quite love. They have scars and memories they'd like to forget.

We all do.

We can’t define our worth by the number of comments on any given post. We’re worth more than that. So much more.

Let us use social media to lift one another up. Let us notice beauty and not be envious. Let us love, not simply “like.”

We have the power to love the good we see in others, and to love ourselves along the way.

My darling, you are beautiful, valuable, cherished, unique.

But most of all, you are loved.