Dear Women,

This is a message for all women, young to old, from daughter to grandmother and everyone in between. Love yourself, and love yourself endlessly and don’t forgive for loving yourself. Never let anyone, and I mean anyone convince you that you are not good enough, because you are. You are so much more than you probably even realize.

I am fortunate enough for having an amazing support system growing up and always being told that someone believed in me. I have a lot of confidence, sometimes more than I should, but I will never apologize for the confidence that I have, not only in my body but in myself. I have always believed that I am doing the best that I can, and that I am blessed. But I know that this is not the case is everyone. And it should be. Everyone should love themselves, and nobody should feel bad for loving themselves, especially women.

Lately I have started following an account on Instagram called @thenakeddiaries. It is run by a young women who accepts submissions of women and men that struggle with self-love. It is not only about body image but also about other things including periods, pre and post pregnancies, and much more. Looking through this page is heart breaking sometimes. It is heart breaking to see that beautiful women, and sometimes men, are afraid to be themselves and love themselves because of how society expects them to look.

Because of society’s standards of how women “should” look, women feel like they are not good enough and never will be good enough.

Because of society’s standards of women, women feel like the need to improve.

Because of society standards of women, women feel as though they are less than men.

I am here to tell you that you are much more than you believe you are!

You are good enough!

You do not need to improve, unless YOU want to!

You are equal, if not better than men!

I understand that there is something about yourself that you will not always love, everybody has those things. But learning to accept those flaws is something that helps you grow in your self-love.

The phrase, you cannot fully love someone else, until you love yourself is true. No matter what the situation is.

If you cannot believe in yourself, you will struggle to believe in others.

Self-love is not something that is achieved overnight, but it is a work in progress just like everything in life is.

It is important as women that we learn that we are more, and we are the future. Without us, there is no life, but we are more than that. We are more than mothers and daughters, we are lawyers, doctors and social workers. You are only as limited as you make yourself.

Remember to always love yourself, believe in yourself, and be the best you that you could possibly be. Never underestimate yourself, and never let anyone else tell you that they are less than you.

You are more than you believe. Remember that.