I want to start out by saying that I'm not writing this to tell anyone how to live their lives. It's your life and you are free to do anything you want with it. I'm not trying to attack anyone. My main goal in writing this is to encourage you to embrace yourself. Every part of you.

I want to draw attention to a growing issue that is setting us back significantly when it comes to self-esteem, confidence, and body positivity. Society revolves around social media, whether we like it or not. People who work in advertising, marketing, and many other fields rely on social media to make a living. Everywhere you look, people are looking down at their phones.

Don't get me wrong, I'm guilty of it too. Whenever I have time to spare or I'm procrastinating responsibilities, my first instinct is to reach for my iPhone and mindlessly scroll. There are a lot of positive things attached to social media. It gives us a platform to voice our opinions. It gives us a space to connect with people that we otherwise might lose touch with. However, there's a danger that lies within these apps that negatively impacts the way that we feel about ourselves and our bodies.

There are so many reasons why people feel the need to edit the way that they look on social media. We feel left out when we see our friends doing something we weren't invited to. We think our lives are less interesting than others' when we see pictures of people traveling to amazing places. Worst of all, we start to think that we aren't good enough when all of these pictures are being posted by "perfect" people. We compare ourselves to these people and we feel the constant need to change our lives to fit in with what's currently trending.

There's nothing wrong with adding a filter to a picture to enhance it. We all love a good VSCO filter (C5, am I right?). However, it is wrong to alter your body and change your physical features to be something that they're not. I'm not going to lie to you and say that I haven't done it. I've whitened my teeth in photos. I've blurred out giant pimples on my nose.

A couple of months ago, I decided that I wanted to take a break from social media. I deleted Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. During that time, I learned a lot about me and why certain things made me feel certain ways about myself. Because I didn't have those things readily available to distract me from what actually mattered, I was forced to be more present in my everyday life.

I was able to be in the moment, and when I took pictures, I wasn't taking them to show the rest of the world what I was doing. I was taking them to look back and remember those moments and those people. Throughout those 40 days, I realized something that has completely changed the way that I feel about edited photos: those pictures aren't real.

It's extremely obvious to other people when you alter your body in pictures. You don't look like that in real life, and you know it. Sure, it may feel good to look at a picture of yourself with a little bit smaller of a waist and slimmer arms, but you aren't fooling anyone or yourself.

Think about it. When you look back on your life and all of the memories that you've made, do you want to be looking at a picture of yourself that isn't entirely you? When you're showing your grandkids pictures from college (only the appropriate ones, of course) do you want them to see something fake?

Digitally modifying your physical appearance isn't fair to you or anyone else. Embrace yourself and who you are. Find the qualities that you love about yourself, and love them even more. Women are beautiful. We have come so far regarding self-love and acceptance, and if you aren't happy with your body, you have the power to do something to change it. Don't put something out there that isn't real, because trust me, you'll regret it in the long run.