“Don’t be beautiful. They keep saying that beautiful is something a girl needs to be. But honestly? Forget that. Don’t be beautiful. Be angry, be intelligent, be witty, be klutzy, be interesting, be funny, be adventurous, be crazy, be talented – there are an eternity of other things to be other than beautiful. And what is beautiful anyway but a set of letters strung together to make a word? Be your own definition of amazing, always. That is so much more important than anything beautiful, ever.”

Self-esteem issues is something I’ve dealt with for a very long time. Feeling too fat, not pretty enough, not funny enough, not smart enough, not good enough. It’s a disgusting feeling and it internally tears you down. It doesn’t take much to trigger the feeling. All it takes is getting back a bad grade to feel like I’m not smart enough to do what I want to do for a career. All it takes is a bad picture to make me feel like I’m too fat or not pretty. All it takes is a moment of silence in a group to make me feel like I’m not funny enough or smart enough to contribute to the conversation.

This quote above changed all that. Reading it for the first time made me realize how stupid I was being, worrying about shallow things. The world is a shallow place. If you’re not beautiful and flawless you’re not important. I can’t stress enough how untrue that statement is. People aren’t perfect, people aren’t flawless. It’s a stupid stigma. Horribly stupid.

Be angry. Stop putting up with people’s bullshit. Stop accepting it. If someone does you wrong, don’t listen to those who tell you to push it under the carpet and suck it up. Be pissed off and let that person know you’re pissed off. You have every right to be so why not be?

Be intelligent. Knowledge is so important. If you don’t have substance, then what do you have? And by knowledge, I don’t mean how well you can memorize something from a text book or how well you can perform a mathematical equation. I mean how knowledgeable are you about the things you care about. How much common sense you have?

Be witty. Quick and top of the head humor is the purest form of humor because it didn’t need to be rehearsed and it didn’t need to be planned. A quick wit is a sign of great intelligence. Wit can make you a smartass, but that’s a beautiful form in itself.

Be klutzy. Who said we needed to be 100% balanced on our feet all the time? Sometimes in the battle with gravity, gravity wins. Let it win. Then laugh about it. Let others laugh when you lose against gravity. Laugh when others fall, but make sure they’re physically okay first. Trip, dive, slip.

Be interesting. Keep people tuned in, but more importantly keep yourself tuned in. Boring isn’t fun, that’s why it’s boring. If you feel yourself slipping out of consciousness, change something, spice it up, make it interesting. Don’t submit to boredom, exceed to excitement.

Be funny. Laughter is the greatest healer. Funny is different to everyone, so surround yourself with those who share your sense of humor. Don’t change your sense of humor. If witty is your sense of humor, surround yourself with those who appreciate that. If politically incorrect is your sense of humor, surround yourself with those who share that sense of humor, don’t push it on those who don’t appreciate or accept it.

Be adventurous. See the world. We’re not meant to stay in one place. Take risks. Don’t sit back and watch others take risks. That rush of adrenaline and that nervous, butterflies in the stomach feeling is incredible. Experience it. Explore. Broaden your horizon of knowledge, go down untraveled roads.

Be crazy and be talented. The crazy ones are the ones that make names for themselves. The crazy ones change the world and change society. Be talented. You don’t have to have the world’s most amazing voice or have the best dance moves to be considered talented. If you can change someone’s mood or make someone’s day, that’s a talent. If you can bring a group of people together, that’s a talent. If you can change the entire atmosphere of a room, that’s talent. Talent isn’t limited to musical arts, drawing capabilities, or acting. Everyone is talented at something, discover it.

Like the quote says, you can be so much more than what society labels you. Beautiful is a relative term, so use something else to describe someone. Describe them as vibrant, describe them as life-changing, describe them as incredible. Don’t describe them as beautiful.