"I admire your love for details and the way you breathe moments in and hold them in your lungs. I love how you think so beautifully but are scared to speak the poems that are your thoughts.

Believe me. When those breaks and pauses finally come out, it's like I can hear Kerouac and Hemingway throwing in the towel.

You ache for human surroundings but thirst for solidarity. Although you long to be alone, you are good with people and are not the awkward person you describe yourself as.

You are in the world but of The Lord. Your consideration for other's well-being baffles me. Your selflessness is your best quality.

Some days your size doesn't matter but other days you fall into your sheets because they're the only fabrics big enough to fit you.

I love how you love yourself. Sure, you have instances of self-consciousness but you also love the gold flecks in your eyes and the way your hair rolls in an easy breeze. You would never tell anyone that because you don't want anyone to think you're self-absorbed.

I love your intelligence but especially your sense of humor. Your laugh makes my muscles tense and relax all at the same time. That crinkle between your eyes and the way your mouth folds around your nose are my favorite things about you.

You stand out in a field of a million different kinds of flowers, not because of your beauty, not because of your words, not because of your ability to make me smile. You stand out because you are the best combination of all these qualities. I love you."

“Who are you dating?” No one. “Oh my gosh! When did this happen?” A while back. “Are you in love?” Yes.

Don’t get your hopes up too high. This love letter is from me, to myself. Some time ago, I decided that I’d rather be happy than a size zero. Does that mean I still wouldn’t mind to lose a few pounds? No. We think in order to love ourselves we need to look a certain way--but we just need to love ourselves. Period. When you reach your goal weight, you’ll find something in your face you don’t like.

Then you’ll get surgery to fix it and you’ll realize it was your hair that you didn’t like the whole time. People only see your insecurities when you point them out. So, I wrote this from an outsider’s point of view. I asked myself the question, “If someone fell in love with you, what would you want them to notice?”

--I love that I can see beauty in the details. While others are obsessed with taking photos of a pretty skyline, I like to enjoy it before I snap the image.

--I annoy myself sometimes because I want to be alone, but I also want to hang out with all my friends. I kick myself for not being a “people person” but also dread the thought of staying out until midnight on a Friday night. It’s a beautiful in-between, though. Most people are one or the other, which makes me special.

--At one point in my life, I was jealous of other people’s relationships with Jesus. I’ve grown since then and fallen madly in love with Him. I’m really proud of myself for being vulnerable and enduring the trials in order to grow closer to Him.

--We can find beauty in the constant tug-of-war of self-consciousness. If someone wrote a book about you, the reader would come to love you more when you’re at your worst the same way we all love Augustus Waters.

--I bet you can pick out one part of your physical appearance that you like. Mine is my eyes. I get compliments all the time about their color. I love that. Once, I was told I had dragon eyes. Society’s weird rules tell us that you need to love your body, but saying it out loud is vain. No--say it out loud, tell one person, write it on the Internet for the whole world to see. It’s the first step in falling in love with yourself.

--I love my sense of humor because not many people understand it. There are the few who understand my Monty Python references and it makes up for no one laughing at my jokes.

--This combination of traits makes me who I am. You are not the same combination--you are your own.

So, I encourage you to write your own love letter to yourself. Share it with your friends or keep it and read it when you’re feeling worthless. You are important to the people around you. You are important to people who don’t know you just yet. You are important to this world, and I hope you understand that.