I'm a girl with very common attributes. I like to read. I enjoy the occasional walk on the beach. I text with my friends. I'm on that curvy, busty side with pink lines on my stomach. I try to remind myself when I wake up to adopt that "glass half-full" attitude everyone talks about.

Then I turn on the T.V., the radio or look at a billboard.

Advertisements for weight loss pills attack me and tell me that if I can't suck in my stomach until it touches my spine, then I need "serious help." In big brand name stores, the beautiful dresses I see in the window don't have my size, and the blank stares of the mannequins judge me like it's a bad thing. One Christmas, I got on my brand new Wii Fit, and it told ten-year-old me I was obese. I cried for hours and refused to leave my room that day.

There are times when I stare into the mirror and criticize myself. There are days when I try on nearly every piece of clothing I own and still don't feel decent in any single one. Shopping days quickly turn from joyful to downcast when I can't find anything that fits me without looking like I just came from Tent City. I try my best to stay optimistic, but sometimes, it can be especially hard because the negative thoughts outweigh the positive ones.

These gloomy instances don't just happen to me. In fact, I'd say millions of girls have similar stories.

The socially accepted image of what the "perfect body" looks like has become so warped and twisted that it's impossible to achieve. As little girls, we look upon figures such as Barbie and believe that is what we're supposed to look like. We watch TV shows and commercials smite shame upon people in a size sixteen pair of jeans and believe we can't be accepted unless we look different. With this in mind, we spend years trying to accomplish social acceptance. But when we grow up and don't see the results we anticipated, our desire to obtain this acceptance can take a dangerous mental turn.

Millions of plus-size girls look in the mirror everyday and don't see the beauty their moms and friends encourage them to see. They judge themselves. They look upon themselves with disgust and point out all the things they hate about themselves. They weigh themselves and look to the media for approval only to hear them say, "Sorry, if you don't have that Barbie body, you ain't coming to the party."

We are met with this negativity about being plus-size anywhere and everywhere we go. The term "fat" is tossed around and used in the same context as "large" and "big-boned." There's this idea that if we aren't concerned with our figures, then we care little for our health. They don't know what we go through to try to please everyone else.

But I'm done trying to please people. I don't care what they think anymore because it doesn't matter.

To any plus-size girl in an shape, color, size or age:

You are beautiful. You are strong. You are a gorgeous person so amazing that there isn't anyone else in the world like you.

I understand that sometimes it feels like the negativity is just too much. It's as if what everyone says and what your mind says combines and makes you feel like you want to crawl under the covers and cry.

But before you do that, I want you think about something. Doctors say that if Barbie was a real person, her proportions are so unrealistically warped that she wouldn't even be able to walk. The system is flawed because they are wrong. There is no perfect body! We need to look at the people who want us to feel insecure and tell them that no, they're the insecure ones. They're the ones who feel like there's a standard that needs to be lived up to and that is a sad thing because there is no real standard. There is only uniqueness, and in uniqueness is beauty.

We need to give society another lesson about this concept, this uniqueness every single person has, plus-size or not. There shouldn't be an expectation about beauty because everyone's concept of beauty is different. It shouldn't be measured based on mere numbers. We are beautiful because we feel beautiful. Confidence is key. But confidence has become hard to maintain because we've been beaten down so many times.

A few weeks ago, I decided to try something out. Every morning, when I wake up and get dressed, I look at myself in the mirror. It's in this mirror where I was so hard on myself so many times that I tell my reflection how clear her face looks. Or how beautiful her eyes are. Or how the short bang on the side of her chin curls tightly and stays in place no matter what. I remind myself how many people have complimented it. I watch my lip gloss glitter and smile because, hey, people smile right back at confidence.

It's an exercise, and like all exercises, it takes practice to get the end result you want. Confidence doesn't sprout overnight; it takes consistency and commitment. But the progress shows, and you'll notice when one day you stare into the mirror and see the same beautiful girl I see staring back at you.