We’ve all been in that place before, somewhere in between "I love myself" and "I don’t really like who I am at all." No matter your gender, race, sexual orientation or economic status, we have all felt like who we are just isn’t good enough. Why is that though? Why do we all have this preconceived notion that it’s completely normal to have such large self-esteem issues? If somebody says that they feel attractive that day, then they’re seen as being cocky instead of confident. This isn’t a very healthy society to live in, a society where it’s more common to hate yourself then to love to love yourself.
We aren’t going to feel great about ourselves all the time -- it would be nearly impossible -- but I’m here to say that I get it. We all have those days, and sometimes those days turn into weeks and sometimes those weeks turn into months. How you deal with this is completely up to your own discretion. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably going to sit in a bubble bath and cry with your laptop balanced on the side of the tub with Netflix for multiple hours. But just remember, we all have that moment of grace, when the lightbulb goes off, when we suddenly come to the realization that who we are is damn good enough. For me this was the other night when I realized that Leslie Knope ended up happy and so will I. When your lightbulb goes off, I can only hope that your laptop isn’t balanced on the side of your bathtub like mine was. There might be water damage to my lifeline, but the cost of remembering to love yourself is priceless.
Whether you’re a size two or a size 12, you are beautiful. Everybody has things that they want to change about themselves -- it’s inevitable. But guess what, you’re still beautiful. Exactly like you are, right now at this point in time, you are beautiful just the way you are. The best thing in life is realizing that you made it to where you are today and you’re going to make it so much farther. And something that’s even better is realizing that it’s okay to be confident in yourself. It’s okay to look in the mirror and be amazed at who you are. Your skin might not be perfect, but you can still love it. Your body might have dimples or stretch marks and be bigger in places where you wish it wasn’t. But that’s okay. It’s okay to love your body despite all of those things.
Be confident in who you and love yourself despite the imperfections. Those imperfections are exactly what makes you you. In the famous words of J. Cole, “Love yourself, girl, or nobody will.” Find yourself, love yourself and remember that who you are is good enough. You’re going to do so much in your lifetime; learning to love yourself is just a stepping stone on the path to growing up.
