To The Girl In The Mirror,

I’ve spent numerous years working up the courage to write you this letter. Actually, I’ve written it about a hundred times, but none of them ever seemed good enough. I can never seem to find the right words to accurately describe how I feel about you; I'm still not sure if these words are right, but they'll have to do.

Let me start off by saying this: Stop. Stop what you’re doing. Put down the foundation and the mascara. Stop caking so much makeup on your face. Stop spending hours upon hours every morning pampering yourself just so you can “feel pretty.” You most definitely need make to look beautiful — you already are. Stop looking at your stomach. Don’t point out how fat you think you are. Stop forcing yourself to do that 30 day ab workout challenge that you don’t even want to do. Stop starving yourself just to have a “flat stomach.” None of that matters. You need to turn that frown into a smile.

You might have had people in the past tell you that you need to put cover-up on your pimples or that you need to lose 15 pounds or that you should be ashamed of your stretch marks, but that doesn’t mean you should tell other people the same things. I know you’ve been hurt by people’s rude comments about how you look, and I know that it sucks feeling hideous and disgusting and worthless, but do you ever think about how the things you say and do affect other people? I know you’ve made me feel pretty terrible at times. Every day I look at you, and you point out every flaw that I have, whether it be how frizzy my hair is or how crooked my teeth are. You even tell me that no one could love me looking how I do. Because of you, my self-esteem lowered to rock bottom. You made me hate myself to the point where I would cry because of how ugly I felt.

But I’m not writing this letter to scold you. I am writing this letter to tell you that none of what you told me is true. You lied about it all. Beauty is not what is on the outside, and I don’t have to look a certain way for people to like me. I’ve found people who love me for who I am as a person and not for what I look like. I am so much more than what I look like, what I weigh, or how much the pounds of makeup on your face cost, and the fact that you judge me based on one little piece of who I am isn't right at all. You only see the shell but never cared about the part of me that gets straight A's, the part of me that is selfless and cares for everyone, no matter what they’ve done to me, the part of me that always wants to brighten people’s day and make them smile. You never looked at my soul, who I truly am.

So ultimately, I want to thank you. I want to thank you for making me hate body so much to the point where I would starve myself for days in hopes of losing some weight. I want to thank you for telling me that I needed to put makeup on because no one could stand the sight of such ugly marks. I want to thank you for constantly making fun of every single thing about me. You made me feel horrible. But because of you, I am now stronger than ever before. Because of you, I have come to realize that no one cares what I look like — people should love me for who I am on the inside. So finally, I'd like to thank you for making me a better person.

I know that I should be angry with you, but honestly, I just feel bad for you. I’m sorry that you’re trapped in that small mirror. I wish I could help you get out of there, but I can't. Instead, I guess we just have to start by telling society that “beautiful” does not necessarily mean desired physical characteristics, but rather it means pleasure of the mind. Maybe if society changes the way they talk about beauty, then you can come out. But until that day comes, I won’t be speaking to you anymore. I'm sorry, but I’m done with you. I can't let you ruin what I've built for myself. This is my castle, and I'm the princess; you don't get to make me feel like anything less than that.

With love,