A good body image is important. You should believe you are a beautiful person. There is too much negativity in the world for you to be another influence tearing yourself down. Instead, let's build ourselves up! It is difficult to attain a good self-image. I used to dislike and criticize the way I looked. Now, I am much more comfortable with the way I look. I still have moments of doubt, but I am much better about not letting those moments get to me.

So, you might ask, how did I get to this point? Let me tell you. First, it took me a long time and a lot of pushing myself mentally. It was not easy. I started small. Every morning I would, and still do, pick something about myself in the mirror that I love. I did not focus on the rest. Some days it was my hair or other days it might be my eyes.

The other thing I did was stop comparing myself to other people. I am different from them and we are never going to look exactly the same so I might as well stop trying. It is difficult to ignore society, but if you can stop listening to their shallow definition of beautiful and ignore their photo shopped models then you can learn to love your own style and body.

Next, I found clothing and a style I liked and was comfortable in. It is difficult to feel good about yourself when you are trying to wear clothes that do not fit you or you do not feel pretty in. I learned that as long as you are confident in what you are wearing then people will see you as beautiful.

Confidence is one of the most important things you can have. I became confident in myself through the help of amazing mentors. One of those mentors was my junior year AP U.S. History teacher. She believed in me and this helped me to believe in myself. The other mentor was my youth leader at my church. She taught me it is okay to me the person I am and that I should not change myself. Without these two women I would never have become the confident person I am today.

So, in summary: be confident, be brave, and believe in yourself. You are a beautiful person. It might be hard to change the way you think about yourself over night, so just keep thinking positive thoughts and you will learn to see the beautiful person everyone else already sees.