The power of words is profound. They can be uplifting, spreading positivity throughout your body and bringing peace to your mind, or they can be detrimental, creating damage that may not simply be temporary, but rather irreversible. When we are complimented, we value the words that are spoken to us. We take them to heart, and in our weakest of moments, we cherish those words because they remind us to continue moving forward. In a similar sense, we are degraded by words. We are exposed to receiving outrageous notions about ourselves, and the more we hear them, the more we begin to believe them.

Each person reaches a point in their life where they struggle with their perception of themselves. In a world that is dominated by social media, we tend to compare ourselves to those we see around us. We feel as though we are not enough-not smart enough, not attractive enough, not athletic enough, not good enough-and the list continues.

Due to current social standards, a word as delicate as beauty has become controversial. At one time, beauty constituted both internal and external qualities. Today, it remains seemingly external. Each of us is quick to judge another based off of appearance. For some, it even determines who they associate with. We forget that, as human beings, we are expected to look beyond the exterior and derive our opinions from the levels of personal interaction we have with one another.

We venture through our days with our guards up, readily equipped to shame those around us in hopes of reaching a new security within ourselves. We attack those that we have differences with, and often do not realize the effect that our words can have on those we are speaking of.

Yet, what we forget is that the beauty we search for in ourselves and in others is like everything else in life-relative. Each of us possess certain traits or abilities that outweigh the others, but it does not make us any less of a person. Even the most “beautiful” of people are flawed, be it on the inside or the outside. We all have our downfalls and are forced to cope with struggles on a daily basis, but these struggles can be beautiful-the difference lies in how much of us we choose to share with the world.

My goal is not to sit behind a computer typing an article with the hopes of reaching a mass audience to explain to every person how beautiful they are. To some, these words may mean nothing. To others, they may have a takeaway. Each definition of beauty is different, and every person has a different opinion of what it means to be beautiful.

My goal, in essence, is to remind people that the negative influence of words is meaningless. Words must never define the regard one has for themselves, and the standards of beauty we are faced with drastically contradict this. Self-love and self-acceptance are virtues that can only be acquired over time, through both happiness and turmoil. Be kind to yourself, appreciate yourself, accept yourself.