It’s 7 a.m. and your alarm makes that heartbreaking noise that you know too well. It’s time to take on another day of classes, messy buns, and Starbucks lines that you have no patience for. You’re just about ready to head out the door when you notice that you can’t find your arm anywhere. Yes, I said arm.

Being a girl sucks in general at times, but being a girl that has one arm increases the feeling of self-doubt. Not only are people judging you on the dirty converse you’re sporting or the tired look that you wear so well, now they are judging you by the physical disability that is hard to conceal.

“How is that girl going to open the door with that drink in her hand?” “What happened to that girls’ hand, mom?” “Oh my God, you poor thing!”

We live in a world where social media and television drills these images of perfect women in our brains and we, as women, are naïve enough to believe that we have to look flawless 24/7. Sure, it would be awesome to look like Kendall Jenner, have a body like Jennifer Lopez, and sing like Mariah Carey, but that’s not how the world will ever see me. I will always be the girl with one arm, so I thought. I was brainwashed into thinking that because I was missing my arm, I wasn’t pretty enough or physically capable of a lot of things, but I beat the odds.

While other girls learned to throw their hair up in a ponytail by the age of five, I've just finally taught myself how to do a simple bun at the age of 20. Tying your shoes comes as an instinct the older you get, but I still have to ask my roommate to tie my basic Nikes every day before the gym. Push-ups are done against a wall. Driving is done with one hand. I clap with my left hand and my knee. I will never be able to make letters of a sorority with my hands. I was never able to do the monkey bars. Even though I have to do everything differently, that doesn’t mean I can’t do these tasks.

So how about social media sites and television programs start drilling these concepts into girls’ heads: self-confidence, self-love, and self-worth. If I could make the next episode of E! News about how beautiful women are even with all of their differences, instead of the latest drama dealing with the Kardashians, I would do it in a heartbeat. Your difference doesn’t have to be as dramatic as mine; it could be as little as a new stress pimple that won’t go away. Embrace it. Embrace yourself. Embrace your beauty and become self-worthy.