"I'm too fat." "I'm ugly." "He will never talk to me if he sees me in that." These were the constant messages I was sending myself throughout the day. Continuously damaging my thoughts and self-esteem, because for those moments I actually never thought I could love myself. We see it today as a day-to-day occurrence, young girls and boys attacking their own self-images because they don't think they are good enough. Continually being placed in categories within societies standards of what is considered pretty or ugly. We as humans have this obsession with wanting to impress others, wanting to better ourselves in hopes to catch the eye of someone marvelous. Well trust me, individualism is in and it's all the rage.
When I was little I remember I used to get picked on for wearing ponytails. People used to tell me my hair looked like the reigns of a horse. This got to me, I used to always ask my mom to style my hair down or in just one ponytail because I did not feel like being made fun of that day. That bullying not only brought my confidence down it brought my thoughts down to. I used to bully myself in my head about how my hair looked and how I wish I had curly hair, and how it never looked perfect. The truth was I loved wearing my hair in pigtails, but because of the way I was brought down for wearing them I let that determine how I wore my hair. One day I realized that if I enjoyed wearing my pigtails, why was I going to let a few impolite children in my class determine my happiness? I loved myself when I wore those pigtails (and let me tell you right now, I looked so cute in those things) they made me feel different and allowed me to stand out from everyone else, and I loved the feeling.
Leading up to college I finally learned how to completely, utterly, and unconditionally love myself, and I can tell you I have never been happier. I chose to love myself for the simple fact that everyone deserves to love themselves. Every single person that was placed on this earth has the right to love themselves and be comfortable with who they are. You are you and absolutely no one can take that away from you. Yes I know, you may not like your hair, or your butt, or your stomach, but just know that is what makes you, you! Embrace your uniqueness, I mean after all if we were put on this earth and we all looked the same we all would get bored pretty quickly.
Individualism is key. Standing out in a crowd means you are destined for greatness. By loving yourself you are letting go of all your fears and demons and realizing this is your life, you only have one so why live it putting yourself down. Never let negative thoughts bring you to a low, and always reflect back on the things you did that made you happy not angry. Avoid perfection and never assume the worst will happen, you are only human; no one is perfect and that’s OK. Laugh often, love all the time, and always remember that at the end of the day there is only one of YOU on this earth, and that’s pretty amazing.
