People are always saying that your teenage years early 20's are the best years of your life. When in reality, they seem to be the hardest times of our lives.

The generations before us have never experienced the amount of pressure that we face on a day to day basis. They never had such a high amount of media being thrown at them at every second. Of course, there were societal expectations but they didn't spend countless hours scrolling through Instagram or Twitter seeing all these "perfect" people. Expectations on appearance have never been higher.

Throughout high school, it would be an understatement to say that I was insecure. I've always had image issues and felt pressured to look and act a certain way. But half way through my senior I came to a realization.

Who cares?

Who cares if you're not a size 0? Who cares if you don't have giant boobs and a butt? Who cares if you have a gap in your teeth?

Why waste all this time and energy hating yourself when you can use it towards other things.

Instead of checking the scale every day, read a book outside.

Instead of dreaming of a beach body, get up and go the beach.

Instead of hating every detail of your body, work on being a better person.

I know that in high school everybody is constantly judging how you look and the way you act but I guarantee you, in college, nobody cares. It's all about who you are as a person. It's how you can take a joke. It's about what your favorite movie is and how many shows you've watched on Netflix.

It's about being you. Don't let anyone change it.