When I first heard Colbie Caillat’s song “Try,” I froze and just listened. The song spoke to me, from the very first chord, from the opening line. Caillat seemed to be speaking directly to me through the speakers of the car. By the end of the song, I was almost in tears.

“Try” is a powerful message begging to be heard in a storm of commercials and articles and advertisements screaming to young people, especially to young girls, about how they should look: wear the makeup, buy the cool clothes, be a size 00, because if you’re anything bigger, then you’re not little enough.

I know I’m not the only one to feel this way, but I’ve always been self-conscious about the way I look. I can never do makeup like some girls who are in high school, and I’m 20. My hair is thick and wavy, and never seems to cooperate with what I want it to do. I don't have the pretty corkscrew curls, or the perfect waves. Honestly, I think my hair is a fuzz ball half the time, and I feel out of place among some of my girlfriends who seem to have perfect hair.

I have a small build, but I never felt I was small ENOUGH, and that I was being judged because my thighs, I swear, are like the size of Russia. Because my nose isn’t small and petite, or because I’m not a size 2. When I painted my nails, I always felt self-conscious because they chipped so quickly. No one else’s seemed to. Dumb, right?

I never had the cool clothes from the mall. I felt like people were judging me because I didn’t have the Abercrombie and Fitch hoodie, or the American Eagle jeans. I wasn’t cool, or at least I didn’t think so, and I felt like my peers thought it too and were silently judging me for it.

It all sounds a little dumb, doesn’t it? I started to think so too, and as I got older, those feelings and fears went away a little bit. I learned to be more comfortable with myself and with my body, but even still, I was, and am, still self-conscious. Caillat’s song helped me realize that these messages the world was stuffing down my throat were stupid. That trying to get people to like me based on what I wore or what my makeup looked like was dumb. That I would be liked if my waist was small enough. “Try” made me begin to realize that this was all wrong.

What I look like is not going to guarantee that anyone is going to like me. It doesn’t matter if my hair isn’t totally perfect all the time. So long as I look appropriate for work or school, it’s fine, the same with my makeup. It doesn’t matter where my clothes came from. If they fit nicely and work for the occasion, then who cares? I know this all seems like common sense. But when you are bombarded with emails and ads that are telling you to look a certain way so that people will like you, it’s difficult to be sure of yourself when you don’t look like that.

“Try” is a song about accepting yourself as you are. It tells you that you don’t have to try to get people to like you based on what you look like. That’s not why people are going to like you, anyway. People will like because of the person you are. Your best friends aren’t going to care what high end boutique your shirt came from. They’re not going to care if your hair is little fuzzy today. Your significant other isn’t going to care, either. The people you love most in your life—your family, your friends, your SO—care who you are on the inside. You don’t have to impress them by wearing the best makeup. They will still love you. They will love you for your kindness, your intelligence, your laugh. They love YOU.

“You don’t have to try so hard. You don’t have to bend until you break. You don’t have to change a single thing.” Just be yourself, and the most wonderful people you’ll ever meet will surround you, because they love you for you. <3

Take a listen for yourselves.