Middle school is a rough time for everyone, especially girls. When I started middle school, every girl I knew was in her “ugly duckling” stage. I vividly remember all of my friends experimenting with their mom’s makeup and obsessing over what color of bands they should get on their braces. We all go creep on our MySpace profiles, featuring countless amounts of duck-faced selfies, and we laugh remembering how awkward that time was and thanking God puberty did us well. However, the young girls in middle school nowadays are completely skipping this important process.
One must be an ugly duckling before she can blossom into a beautiful swan. Being a weird 7th grader builds character. Now that I am basically a fully-fledged adult, I see how crucial this stage of life is. I can look back on pictures where I am wearing a shirt that was three times too small for me and have my hair in a greased back ponytail and be truly happy. This happiness stems from the fact that I have lived and I have learned. I suffered the embarrassment of not knowing blue eyeshadow is a no-no unless you’re going to an '80s themed party and that makes me a better person.
In our current society, 11-year-old girls are showing up to school with their contour on point and it is truly unacceptable. How can you trust someone who never went through an ugly stage? If you’ve been a gorgeous specimen since the day you came out of the womb, I’m sorry but I’m afraid you’re not an actual human being. I mean, congratulations on your good looking face but don’t come near me because I’ll probably be convinced you’re a vampire or some other immortal creature.
Everyone needs an awkward stage, not only because it gives you a three-year period of embarrassing pictures to make fun of, but it really does make you a better person. Once you have emerged from your cocoon that is middle school, no longer a lumpy caterpillar and instead an alluring butterfly, you can wake up every day and be happy that you no longer consider gauchos to be a necessary fashion staple. I pray for these girls who are skipping over the ugly duckling stage because that means they reach their peak a lot sooner.
Personally, my ugly middle school years have pushed back the pinnacle of my beauty to probably about 22-years-old, while these young girls are going to be reminiscing about their peak before they even graduate high school. So ladies, if you have braces, acne and still rock the Juicy Couture sweat suits, flaunt it, because it’ll make you a happier and more confident person once you overcome the challenge that is the ugly duckling stage.
