It seems like everywhere you look, especially as a college student, there is always someone who seems to have their life more put together than you. There are constantly others surrounding you who have better grades, a more extraneous social life, and of course, seemingly better looks.

I personally have struggled with the latter for as long as I can remember. I have always been generally confident in my facial looks, but phrases such as "you'd be beautiful if you lost just ten pounds," or "you're such a pretty girl and I would hate to see your weight take that from you," and my favorite, "you gained weight since I last saw you," have constantly burned my ears since I was a little girl. Even when I was eleven years old, I constantly listened to family members encouraging me outside for laps of cardio so I could look "more like my sister," or "become even more beautiful." I remember shamefully staring at myself in the mirror, wondering why I didn't look more like my beautiful, skinny friends. It breaks my heart looking back on an innocent eleven year old girl, who genuinely thought she was fat.

I am definitely not what society today would consider to be "fat." I have a strong athletic build, who builds muscle and fluctuates between different weights very easily. I have always worked very hard on maintaining my body; whether it'd be through the four years of running I completed in high school, physically exhausting ski days every weekend in the winter, or countless hours at the gym. I am a generally healthy eater as well, cutting out many junky snacks and always making sure that there is a healthy variety of the different food groups in my meals. I have found that living this lifestyle for the past five or so years has improved not only my physical health, but my mental health as well.

And yet, the more healthy my diet becomes and the more depth my gym routine gets, I have found myself feeling more unhappy with how I look. Maybe it's because of the constant note of college "tens" that my male friends take, or the Instagram famous smoke shows that surround us daily, but it feels as though it's impossible for the typical college female to feel like she has won her dream body. The unrealistic expectations have exceeded heights taller than those in middle school, and quite frankly, that frightens me.

I have always hated the phrase "thick." I think it's demoralizing to a girl to hear that she is "slim thick" or regular "thick," rather than having just a nice body. It basically implies, "you're pretty for your heavier build, and that's what you were given." What astounds me even more than that general phrase, is how comfortable people are with referring to others as thick to their faces. I can think of two instances where fellow college students have called me thick to my face, and they still both stick like daggers in my heart. Hearing that after working so hard for my fitness and health is enough to set me back, and to feel like my progress is useless and has gotten me nowhere. This needs to end. There are millions of body types in the world, and I'm completely done with scanning a crowded room to find someone with my same build as me to make me feel like I'm not alone with looking the way I do. Because my body is beautiful, and I'm damn proud of what it has become.

I am taking a stand, and I want other college aged girls to take the stand with me to fight against female body stereotypes and generalizations. No more calling girls "thick," instead compliment them on what they have, or don't say anything at all. I am a firm believer in the fact that every girl is physically beautiful, and it breaks my heart to think that generalizations make girls from young to old feel nasty about themselves. It's time to start celebrating what we have, because our bodies are beautiful, and we cannot allow others to let us think otherwise. I'm blessed with what I have. Maybe I'm not a size zero, but I work at my body every chance I get, and for that reason I'm so incredibly proud of myself. And to whoever is reading this, know that I'm proud of you as well. You have been blessed with what you have, and don't let society make you think otherwise. And please, let's put an end to referring to others as "thick." We are all beautiful in our own ways, and that's something to be incredibly proud of.