Growing up, my weight was always something I was not happy with. I’d always tried to lose weight but it never seemed to work, then one day, I had enough. I was sick of complaining and being too afraid of wearing tight clothes or a two piece suit swim. That day was the start of my weight loss journey. About four months later, I was 35 pounds lighter and 10 times happier. I was still a bit insecure (but being a girl, who isn’t?) but it was nowhere near as bad as it use to be. I was able to fit into size four jeans and a size six dress. That feeling was truly amazing. The first time I put on a two piece swimsuit in my life I felt so accomplished.
When I was overweight, I always wanted to lose weight because I thought being skinner would make me fit in more, or boys would start to notice me. I noticed myself becoming a happier person, not only with the way I saw myself but the newfound confidence within myself. Although boys did start to notice me more, I found myself looking good for me and only me. Of course when people give you compliments and say how good you look, it is always a confidence booster. But when you start changing your ways for your mental state of mind you will find yourself being happy and looking good for the sake of yourself. You find yourself not caring what others think when you learn to love yourself.
Although my body was nowhere near perfect, I could walk around with confidence in my step. Which is something I could never say before. I learned that while it’s wonderful when people tell you that you look good, the most important compliments you can get is from yourself. So if you want to wear that dress to your 8 a.m. because you love the way you look in it, then do it. If you want to wear a full face of makeup wherever you go because that how you feel confident, then do it. Be yourself, and be confident with whatever you do or wear. The only way to be purely happy with yourself is to accept how you look and learn to love it. Once you learn to look good for yourself you will soon realize that the genuine people in your life will take notice.
A big part of learning to love yourself is to stop comparing yourself to others. Thats the first step I took: I stopped comparing myself to those I thought were better than me. I used to look around and tell myself that the girls around me are prettier so nobody will even bother to see my beauty. I soon realized that everybody is beautiful in their own way. Everybody has different features that make them beautiful in a special way. Just because one girl is pretty doesn't make another ugly or less pretty. Learning to stop compare yourself to other is a very important part of looking good for yourself because you will stop trying to live up to the standards of other people and you will then live up to the standards of yourself. You need to fall in love with yourself because anybody else can.
