To The Girl Who Is Too Hard On Herself: You’re Doing Fine
In a world where we’re constantly taught to love one another, perhaps the person you struggle to love the most is yourself. You constantly feel like you’re one of two things: too much or not enough. Maybe you’re feeling too stubborn, too quiet, or too difficult. Or maybe you feel like you’re not pretty enough, not skinny enough, or not smart enough. You run yourself down trying to be everything for everyone and it just never seems sufficient. It’ll drive you crazy if you let it.
Read these words as many times as it takes you to believe it: You are so much more than enough.
Stop watching yourself take three steps forward only to knock yourself two steps back. Stop forcing yourself to stay awake all night to study for an exam when you know you need to sleep. Stop telling yourself that one meal per day will make you skinny or that eating one cheeseburger will make you fat. Stop laughing at jokes that you don’t find funny just because everyone else is laughing, and spending your time with people that make you feel like you’re hard to love.
If you made it out of bed this morning, you’re already succeeding. Even if you didn’t make it out of bed, you’ll get there. We are not perfect creatures with perfect hair, a Kardashian booty, arms like Michelle Obama, an effortless knowledge of every subject in existence, and a constant cheerful personality that is free of mood swings and emotions. That’s not how it works. That’s never how it should work. Never feel like you aren’t good enough because you don’t live up to 100% of the impossible standards thrown at you. Always strive for better, but not at the expense of your own well-being.
If you’re quiet, don’t apologize for your quiet. If you’re wild, don’t apologize for your wild. The most beautiful girls are those who are unapologetically themselves, no matter what that may be. Sleep when you’re tired, eat when you’re hungry, laugh freely and loudly and never be sorry for loving yourself. Letting other people control how you see yourself is a tragic waste of the person you are. Wake up every morning and tell yourself that you’re beautiful, strong, and badass and continue to tell yourself that until you truly believe it. Watch how much your perspective changes and embrace it with open arms.
If we spent as much time loving ourselves as we did loving the wrong people, the female population would be a much more positive one. Maybe then we’d choose to fix each other’s crowns instead of trying to knock them off. You are smart enough, and one bad grade won’t change that. Your freckles, birthmarks, thigh gaps, curves, short hair, long hair, no hair, is all perfect. Your independence, attitude, and stubborn ways are what make you a strong woman just like another girl’s sweetness and optimism make her strong just the same. You have a fierce mind, a beautiful soul, and you are so much more than good enough. The only person in this world you have to convince is yourself and although it’s a hard battle to fight, I promise you it’s worth it.
Sincerely, a girl that’s too hard on herself.
