I (Kinda) Love My Body And That's Okay

I have a million freckles, dotted all over my body. I get bruises super easily and my legs are often home to at least three of them. I'm so pale that it's often the first thing people notice about me. And I have four scars on my body from different surgeries. I've spent so many days feeling upset with myself because I thought that I didn't measure up to those gorgeous girls on Instagram. They all have perfectly tanned bodies with gorgeous long hair and long legs. It took me so long to realize that no-one is perfect. These girls choose to show us an edited version of themselves. And yeah, you know what? There are girls out there who will make you do a double take, and maybe I don't look like them, but that's okay. 

We live in a digital generation, and access to images of other people is so easy. Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook; you name it! We all have social media platforms where we are subjected to unrealistic body goals. We're taught that it's not 'cool' to be happy with your body. We've romanticized the idea of not liking our bodies. I know from first hand experience, that loving yourself and your body can be one of the hardest things to do. 

But we have to reject the idea that we ourselves aren't the most beautiful thing to walk upon this earth. Love yourself and SHOUT IT from the rooftops! Because when you start to feel this love and truly believe it, it's going to start showing. It's a hard thing to do, too ignore your little imperfections. But in reality, these little imperfections are what make us, well us! I hate my smile, but I've found someone who loves waking up next to it. And I never thought anyone would ever appreciate it, let alone myself. 

This may seem like a jumble of words, I can be bad at gathering my thoughts together sometimes. But the message remains the same. I (kinda) love my body and that's okay. We should all love our bodies, because everyone is beautiful. 

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Other Girls Aren't Competition

Why do we judge others? I mean, we're all the same really. We're all made up of star dust. We're all souls inhabiting a human vessel, learning new things. We all vibrate frequencies with the Universe. So really, why do we judge others?

Growing up, as girls, we're always subconsciously taught to view other girls as competition. As someone we need to be better than. We're taught that 'you're not like other girls' is one of the highest compliments you can receive from a guy. But why? There are so many beautiful, interesting and complex girls out there. Each one is beautiful in their own way. In every country and every town, there's girls who's lives are as beautiful and precious as one another.

Western media bleeds images and songs and stories into our ears everyday. There are websites dedicated to deciding who wore an outfit better, or who's prettier. It's so evident that this way of thinking has made it's way into our everyday minds. Going out to a club is the easiest example of this. Walking through any club, there are girls who eye you off. Judge your pretty new dress. Death glare you because you looked at them the wrong way. I once had a girl try and fight me because I was wearing glitter. I mean, REALLY? Surely me wearing glitter can't affect you that much!

Apparently some research has shown that women often act this way because of patriarchy. If we supposedly find our value in the way men treat us and perceive us, we view other women that threaten this as a threat. Hence we degrade them to make ourselves appear better. But really, this negative response to other girls out there is just in turn a reflection of how we sometimes view ourselves. I certainly understand this feeling. In the past I've been a jealous WRECK around some other girls. Constantly scared that they're better than me or that everyone is going to like them more. But as soon as I started to change my outlook on things, I could feel my attitude changing as well. We don't have to degrade one another to make ourselves feel better. We're all unique and there is never going to be another version of us. Everyone has something that makes them irreplaceable and we don't have to be scared that another girl is going to take that away from us.

The 21st century culture and the pressure to look a certain way, which is evident in most media and advertising, also plays a huge part in the way we perceive one another. So many girls are out there scrolling through the hashtag 'body goals' staring at unrealistic images of what the media says we should look like. People's opinions are thrown into the mix and it soon can become a vicious cycle of body-bashing. Shaming people for being bigger, shaming people for being smaller. It's just a toxic environment.

Basically, we just have to learn to all love each-other and not view other girls as competition. There's this great quote by poet Nikita Gill, who perfectly sums up a world where we don't view each-other as competition:

"If all girls were taught how to love each-other fiercely instead of how to compete with each-other and hate their own bodies, what a different and beautiful world we would live in"

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