I believe in loving yourself. Simple right? How hard can it to be to love yourself because we all love ourselves don’t we? I think the answer to that question is no we do not all love ourselves. I feel that the society that we live in today encourages us to criticize our outward appearance on a daily basis. It seems to me that most people would accuse someone who admitted they loved everything about the way they looked as being too cocky. This truth, along with the medias constant emphasis on the hottest stars latest plastic surgery adventures has spread the idea that we are all imperfect beings. Personally, for the better part of my eighteen years I have struggled greatly to gain a healthy self-image.
Everyone seems to have at least one thing about the way they look that they would like to change. For me it always used to be my nose. I never even realized I had what some would consider a more prominent nose until one day in the eighth grade. My teacher informed me that I was whom they chose to deliver the main speech at our graduation. One of the girls who I was competing with came up to me after she had found out she had lost and told me that everyone would just be watching my nose move when I delivered my speech. It was at that moment that I first began to dislike my nose. Over the next few years whenever anyone ever wanted to be cruel to me they would always bring up my nose. Each of those people’s hurtful comments made my self-image fall farther and farther down.
My entire way of thinking changed when I came to understand the true meaning behind the saying “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.” I realized how true that saying was one day within this past year when my friend saw a guy and expressed to me how cute she thought he was. I looked at her like she was nuts because I thought he was hideous. Suddenly I realized how silly it was to fret over the way you look, because whatever it is you don’t like about yourself, someone somewhere is going to find it beautiful. I decided that beauty was like ice cream. There will never be a way to determine if chocolate ice cream is better than vanilla because it’s a matter of opinion. Beauty too is an opinion and nothing more. Once I realized this I was able to not only accept the way I looked, but actually love it.
Ever since that day when I look in the mirror I smile to myself and think “you are a beautiful girl.” And as for my nose, well it’s still a very prominent feature, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. That nose has made me the strong and confident woman I am today.