To be honest, growing up is hard. You are constantly guided on who to be and how to act without really gaining a sense of who you are. During that time, you are maturing into yourself and sometimes your own skin feels foreign. As a teenage girl, it is difficult to notice your value and beauty when there is constant competition with other girls. It is embedded into us at a young age and personally, I wish I knew the things then that I know how to help me better understand certain things. Here are seven tips that I want every young girl to hear:

1. It’s your body, so love it!

Society has its way of making everything about the female body its business. Well, it’s not. Girls you are special right now, just as you are. Do not listen to other’s opinions on what they think is beautiful or not. Only your opinion matters. Your body belongs to you and was given to you for a reason. Honor it and treasure every inch of it and imperfections will not exist

2. Friends over foes

Let’s face it guys can be mean but, girls can be worse. It’s easier to stay with the crowd over being alone. Yet, better friends do come along so never settle for less than what you deserve. In the meantime, be your own best friend!

3. You deserve to be treated better!

You owe it to yourself to never allow others to treat you with anything less than respect. You can teach people how they should treat you. But do not waste your time teaching someone how to be a friend, a boyfriend or anything else. Let them know you deserve better only to an extent. You have more control than you can imagine how others perceive you

4. Self-acceptance = Self-confidence

The first thing to really being yourself is accepting who you are. Be aware of your strengths and weaknesses in order to grow and learn from them. Your happiness depends on you and your mental outlook on who you are. Once you accept who you are, you can embrace the queen you actually are and that confidence is the best feeling.

5. High school doesn’t last forever.

Let's be real. High school can feel like everything is permanent. But to be honest, after high school everyone moves on to new lives and the person they were in high school becomes irrelevant. Everything they think of you will fade so try not to focus too much on what they think of you.

6. It’s OK to say no.

Being young has so many opportunities, especially in the dating world. Today, people make anything sexually seem normal or cool. But that does not mean it is. Not everyone is on the same level, so it does not matter if everyone is doing it. It’s okay to be uncomfortable and it’s okay to say no. Remember, you have the choice.

7. You are not alone.

Most importantly, you are not alone. Everyone is going through almost half of the things you experience on a daily basis. I try to remind myself every day that no matter how sad or low I am feeling, others feel the same way and I make an effort to reach out. I think it is important to make others feel just as important and accepted. Embrace your community of young girls.