Hopefully you won’t view this article as another lecture about self-esteem. I know girls are tired of everyone saying that if you don’t like every single thing about your appearance then that must mean you have low self-esteem. I myself don’t believe that you have low self-esteem just because you recognize that you have flaws. There are a few things I don’t like about my appearance too, but I don’t feel as though I have low self-esteem.
When I was a child, I always thought that I was beautiful, but things started to change when I got older. I started to develop the typical self-esteem issues that young girls have. I thought that my body size wasn’t perfect, my hair wasn’t long or straight enough, and my skin not light enough. Even though I didn’t always feel so beautiful after I became older, there was always something inside of me that continued to reassure me that I was beautiful. There was always a positive voice, a small whisper within me that kept telling me that I was worthy.
One of the things that I started doing was playing dress up. I kept painting my nails, wearing a little makeup, and experimented with styling my hair. Even though I didn’t always make myself look that good (I didn’t have very much skills in beautifying at that age), I felt better about myself just simply because I was helping myself. And more so, I felt like I had control over my own looks. That made me feel better.
What I want women everywhere to know is that you too have control over your looks and how you feel about your looks. You may not be able to change every single thing about your appearance—no one can. But you can have a little fun experimenting with different hairstyles and hair colors. You can go buy yourself a style of clothing that you never wore before. You can get yourself a gym membership or go to Yoga classes. The idea is to take control of your appearance. If it is something that you really want to change, you can do it. Like I heard one lady say, “We don’t have to be a victim of our genetics”, and she’s right. We can look however we want to look.
But what’s most important is that you accept your beauty. Look in the mirror and say, “This is me”. Say that every time you look in the mirror because it’s essential that you know that it’s not bad if you have flaws. It’s not bad if you’re not perfect—none of us is. But this doesn’t mean we’re not worthy. We are still beautiful despite our flaws. It’s just who we are as an individual. We have to remember that. We must take pride in our own unique beauty.
