A girls self esteem is highest when she is 9 years old. At 9 years old we were racing razor scooters through our neighborhood with our friends, not a worry in the world. At 9 years old we don't have to deal with stress, we haven't gone through puberty, we haven't tasted half of our favorite foods yet. At 9 years old we haven't been truly exposed to what hollywood and advertisements make the average girl appear to be. At 9 years old we have so much to learn, yet here at 20 years old I have so much to learn from 9 year old me.
I have so many friends of every shape and size, from friends who hear "eat a hamburger you're too skinny" to "are you sure you want to order that? Maybe a salad is better." I have friends who are sizes 00, 4, 8, 12, 15. I have friends who shop in plus and friends who shop in petites. Though our sizes don't say it, we all have so much in common because we all wish that size was another. We all have something that we want to change about our self. Even when we have days where our confidence is at a high, all it takes is one picture on social media to change that. Why do we feel like we have to change ourselves because of one person at some modeling agency deciding what size is good and what size is not, and then that same person demanding that the pictures be edited so that size doesn't even run true.
One of my biggest pet peeves is going in to a store and looking at the clothes on the mannequin and thinking about how great they look, only to see that the fabric has been pinned so much so in the back, that even if you were as small as the mannequin, it wouldn't fit the same unless you ran around with your shirt pinned in the back. Its not just the fashion advertiser or hollywood casting director, we all perpetuate this stereotype that our bodies have to be perfect. 53 percent of girls dislike their bodies. That's over half of girls not liking what makes them unique and different from everyone else. Lets stop judging others for how they look and start embracing diversity. Lets start accepting what we look like, because there is absolutely nothing wrong with looking like you do. Most importantly lets take a moment and learn from our 9 year old selves, because you are beautiful.
