"Reminder: You are under no obligation to look pretty. Not when you are laying around the house, not when you go to the grocery store, not when you sit in a classroom, not when you go to the gym. You are never obligated to get dressed up just so you are pretty for others. Pretty is not the rent you pay to exist in the world as a woman."

A friend showed that quote to me, and it stopped me in my tracks because it's such a true statement that women all over the world so often forget.

You are beautiful. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. I know all of these things because every single woman (and person in general) is, in their own way and in their own right. But don't ever forget that there is no obligation to be any of those things.

The most recent trend in the discussion about women is this idea that women are all beautiful and perfect, and no matter what you look like or think you look like, you should act like you're amazing because you are. And don't get me wrong; that is 100% true. You are beautiful. And wonderful. And fabulous.

But you don't have to be. We focus so much on being our own brand of beautiful, we forget that it's not a requirement. You are beautiful, but you don't have to be. You don't have to be beautiful to be a woman. Or to be strong. Or to be courageous, or brave or completely badass. Or to be anything.

Being "pretty" or "beautiful" is what you are as a woman, not what you have to be in order to be one.

Are you beautiful no matter what? Yes. Absolutely yes. But when did we start telling ourselves that in order to be worth something in this world, women have to present themselves as beautiful? Since when did the most important women's issue in America become the "right to feel beautiful in your own skin"?

Forget being pretty. Forget being beautiful. There are thousands upon thousands of words in the English language to describe you, so don't you dare limit yourself to "pretty" or "beautiful." You don't have to be beautiful to mean something in this world. To be a person. To be a woman.

Be strong. Be brave. Be faithful. Be determined. Be outrageous. Be thankful. Be humble. Be anything in the world. But never let society limit you to being "beautiful." Beautiful is an adjective, a word, an opinion. And you were made for so much more than that.

I do not know when it was decided that the watermark to womanhood is "to be beautiful." All I know is that I am a hell of a lot more than "beautiful." And so are you.

So a reminder: "Pretty is not the rent you pay to exist in the world as a woman."