For most of my life, I would look in the mirror and hate what I was looking at. There was always something I wanted to change, always something I’d want to fix. Whether it was my stomach and cutting off the extra fat or the jiggle in my arms.
One compliment I will never forget was one of my friends saying I had great legs. Yes, this is minimal but I haven’t forgotten it because of the way I responded. When I would look at my legs, I saw the slightest amount of fat jiggle as I walked. I didn’t focus on the muscle and how strong my legs were, rather I looked at the minimal amount of fat they had. Even though there was not much fat on much legs, that was all I saw when I looked at them. Instead of taking the compliment, I laughed it off and said “thanks but they jiggle” and my friend laughed and responded with “everyone’s legs jiggle” then the conversation changed to a different topic. She wasn’t wrong, I should have accepted the compliment and been proud of the strength my legs held.
All throughout middle and most of high school I would judge myself. I was never confident in who I was, I didn’t fully love myself. Whenever I would go swimming with people, including my family, I wore a tankini or a one piece. I wanted to hide most of my body because I wasn’t comfortable or proud of who I was.
Beginning in the second half of my high school career and into my freshman year of college was when I changed the way I looked and felt about myself. Instead of looking in the mirror and seeing the bad I focused on what made me, me. I instead found a way to turn what I hated before into things I loved. I started to find beauty in what I was seeing and be happy with who I was.
I realized I focused too much on what other people thought about me and societies idea of normal. I thought that in order to love myself I needed to be stick thin with a toned body. As much as I tried to have that I finally understood that not only is that not possible for every single person, it wasn’t possible for me. My body is not meant to be stick thin, I am not supposed to have a totally flat stomach, that is not my body type.
If you’re not skinny or aren’t perfectly toned that doesn’t mean you aren’t beautiful. Your body is the only one you have, love it and treat it well. Don’t get me wrong, it is not easy to go from hating yourself to loving yourself. It takes time but it makes life so much happier.
Embrace what you look like because you are beautiful. You may have pimples all over your face, lines on your stomach from rolls, "kankles", a triple chin, or maybe you find yourself too skinny with no muscle, that is all totally okay. You are the only you there will be on this entire planet, you only have one body – love it.
If you look in the mirror and aren’t happy with what you see, I recommend looking in the mirror and instead of pointing out everything you want to change, focus on everything you love. Look in the mirror and smile at what you see, be proud of what you are because you are beautiful.