Like most teenage girls, I've often found myself scrolling through social media, comparing myself to just about every other teenage girl in the world. Having thoughts along the lines of "I wish I was as thin as her" or smart, or tall, or blonde, or beautiful, and literally something someone else has that I do not. I also found myself not feeling good enough, not worthy of love.
After putting some serious time and effort into self-love, I have become not only content but prideful in the young woman I am. I have taken myself apart, picked out flaw after flaw and have fallen in love with every single one of them. I can't even express how much I want this for every young girl in the world struggling with loving herself. So, after picking out flaw by flaw I have decided that:
I'm Okay...
I'm okay with not being the type of girl who can cause a traffic jam. I'm okay with not being the "it" girl. I'm okay with being ordinary. I'm okay with not being anything special. I'm okay with being minuscule. I'm okay with not being the girl every girl wants to be and every guy wants to be with. I'm okay with the fact that my eyes are a little far apart. I'm okay with my one crooked little tooth. I'm okay with the fact that I can be annoying as FREAK. I'm okay with not being 5'10 and a natural blonde. I'm okay with being totally unoriginal. I'm okay with not having 4.0 GPA. I'm okay with the fact that there is more sugar in my coffee than actual coffee. I'm okay with not being a size zero. I'm okay with the fact that I could probably eat more chicken wings than any guy I know. I'm okay with not always being ladylike and sometimes I swear like a sailor. I'm okay with the fact that I don't drive a super fancy, expensive car. I'm okay with the fact that I am a god awful singer and dancer. Because I'm going to do it anyway, I'm okay with wearing glasses and being called "four eyes." I'm okay with being the girl who would rather stay home and read Harry Potter than go out to the club and get crunk. I'm okay with the fact that I say stupid things like "crunk." I'm okay with the fact that my articles barely get 100 views every time they get published. (JK, y'all need to step it up) (seriously) I'm okay with being overly emotional and sensitive. I'm okay with my choice of being a future educator even though I'm going to be making $59,827 per year. I'm okay with being young and naive. I'm okay with not knowing exactly what in the hell I am doing most of the time. I'm okay with all of the bad decisions I have made because they taught me a lesson each time. I'm okay with all seven billion of my freckles. I'm okay with being nostalgic. I'm okay with the fact that my standards are unrealistically high. I'm okay with the fact that I've seen the notebook at least 17 times and still cry at the end. I'm okay with crossing oceans for people who wouldn't jump puddles for me. I'm okay with being so forgiving and giving people second chances even though they might not deserve it. I'm okay with the fact that kids my age call me "lame" because I'd rather listen to Elvis than whatever is on the radio. I'm okay with the fact that this article has pretty much no correlation whatsoever.
The moral of the story is, I'm okay. If no one else in the world likes me, I do. And that is more than enough for me.
So, to the young girl who is having trouble loving herself, if you're reading this, I hope this article found you well. I hope you can learn to love the parts of yourself that everyone else might not. I hope you can relate to at least something I wrote here, and I hope you realize that you are not alone. I hope that you realize that you are beautiful, you are enough, and you are worth loving, especially by yourself.
