How does one begin a conversation that no one wants to talk about? The issue with living in a society with the beauty ideals that ours contains is they are silent at first. When we are growing up, it starts subtly; an occasional advertisement or Disney character that caught our eye, that Limited Too model in the window or the little snicker from a passerby. Then we moved on to the age of schooling. Kids with older siblings started to learn what the attractive looks are and movie rating move from G to PG-13 and R. Celebrities became the fascination of boys and that would be carried over to what was expected in real life. Magazines looked like a portfolio of one person.

When trends should be about interesting, exciting news in the world or health trends, they decide to take the route of “thigh gaps” and what hair color is the most attractive. With all this being so normalized, a seed is planted in the minds of little boys and girls. But instead of this seed growing into a self-loving tree, it would begin to tear a person apart from inside out. Self-critical thoughts haunting them as their heads hit their pillows at night. We are living in a society in which deciding that one body type or hair color is superior to another is considered normal; where the number around your waste is associated with self-worth.

Lately, it has been said that media is getting better but this is something up for debate in my mind. Models are still called plus size even though they are the average size of the population and they are advertised as this.

Everyone blames the food and laziness in not working out enough, but that is not the main issue here—we are. Our society is not very diversity friendly, something that has become especially prominent in the last few months. We would rather comment on the "tummy fat" of an artist rather than the message that she is trying to send via the Super Bowl. Body shaming is a more accepted behavior than body love. And that is sad.

As a college-aged female, there is a standard of beauty set. Personality has initially been replaced by looks. Embracing that part that you hate the most about yourself and asking if this view is something you would still think if you had not been raised in our society can be hard. If you were born yesterday, would you still hate your cellulite? Hair color? Height?

It is time people made lifestyle changes to improve themselves in their own eyes, not in the eyes of others.

It is time we learned to love ourselves, for all that we are.

Photoshop cannot tell the story that your uniqueness is meant to.