You — Yes, YOU — Are Beautiful ALL Year Round, Not Just During An Awareness Month

Although the month of February is technically National Eating Disorder Awareness (NEDA) month, every month of the year you should embrace your inner and your outer beauty. You should not compare yourself to others, because face it, there are over 7 billion different people on this earth and therefore over 7 billion different body types. As media continues to portray this "skinny" image it causes girls to question their bodies, and compare them to an unrealistic standard.

When did it become a bad thing to eat? We need food to fuel our bodies with food to gain energy and keep us focused. So how has something that is so crucial to life turned into something many people dread doing? As the month of February comes to an end, we need to remember that body positivity and eating disorder awareness should not. You are beautiful and you need to embrace that.

As spring break aka bathing suit season vastly approaches, you need to remember to embrace your beauty and ultimately love yourself. There is no reason to diet, or over exercise. Although there is nothing wrong with healthy eating and trying to maintain an exercise schedule, there really is no need to overdo it. Being healthy is all about balance, going on these crazy fad diets drives people towards eating disorders or breaking it all together and going overboard the first sight of unhealthy food.

So, yes, cheat days are more than OK. If you do choose to diet, just remember that balance is key, do not drive yourself to pass out or sickness. Putting your body at risk to look a certain way is downright ridiculous and dangerous.

Where does it say what weight a woman should be? In this day and age, it is so important to embrace diversity and differences amongst one another. Instead of putting others down we should be lifting others up. You never know what someone is going through, so one word, gesture, or even smile can make all the difference to someone.

NEDA is a time of year that brings up something that many do not talk about. But it is something that so many women and even men are dealing with it every day. Eating disorders are killing individuals daily, therefore, it is not something that we should take lightly. Any signs of an eating disorder could include over exercising, over/under eating, or overall obsessive attitudes towards exercising/eating/looking a certain way.

If anyone you know is showing any symptoms such as these, treat them kindly because they need to know that they have someone there when they decide to come to terms with their disorder.

There is way more to life than caring about the way you look. But let's face it, we all like to look our best, just make sure "your best" is actually you and not someone/something you're trying to be.