I am not a size zero.
I will never be a size zero.
My dress size is not even in the single digits.
Heck, I am not even a size 10 or a size 12.
I have an ass. I wish I had boobs though, but no I was not gifted in that department. I have humongous thighs and big arms. I do not have washboard abs. I have huge feet. I have a gap between my two front teeth. In its natural state, my hair looks like it has not been combed for days. I have an uneven skin tone. I could go on and on and get you caught up too with my own body hang-ups.
And phrases like “I wish I had a flatter tummy,” or “I wish I had fuller lips,” or “I wish I had bigger boobs” or “I wish I was long-legged” would poison your mind every time you look at your own reflection in the mirror.
I have struggled with my own body issues one too many times. It came to a point that I starved myself, that I deprived myself, and that I stressed and seriously self-loathed everything about myself. I took pills and weight loss elixirs to make myself thin. Every time I looked at my reflection, I would criticize myself and scold myself for eating that extra slice of cake or munching on that chocolate chip cookie or giving in to my cravings. I had this thinking that I would gain a self-confidence point or two with every inch or pound that I lost. But I knew it was no way to live. I knew it was the wrong way to go. So I snapped out of it.
There are plenty of places on this body of mine that I can think of that can be changed to look better. But at the end of the day, it would not be me.
Life is not a fairy tale, and there is no mirror on the wall to tell you that you are the fairest of them all. Instead, you must embrace yourself, your body, and every single inch of you to realize that beauty is not a one-size-fits-all model that we all must abide by. That beauty is not superficial. That beauty is YOU.
So to every woman reading this, I want you to know that YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. And you must embrace it. Flawless is a falsity. We are all our own goddess with our very own gifts, talents, and abilities. Beauty comes from the inside out. Your sensational soul illuminates your fantastic physical features, but you should never be defined by what is on the outside. Learn to love your imperfections, embrace the entities that you would rather change, and recharge that mirror each morning with the confidence that no one will ever give you. Love yourself.
“I have curves, I like cake, and I kick ass. I am woman, and I am beautiful.” – This should be your daily mantra.