Fat -- it’s so hard to think about that word. It's a negative one in so many situations, and to the average woman, it’s a word that makes you cringe. It makes me think of clothes that are too tight, the dread of bathing suit season, and foods I want but can’t have. This word brings about a image of negativity for all women. In response to this word, all I can think is "Start running! No sweets! What were you thinking? why did you eat that?" And then we work to try and diet, and run faster and feel better about ourselves until the next time that we feel fat and the cycle continues.

Surprisingly enough, the week that my sorority Tri Delta had Fat Talk Free Week was actually one of the most insecure weeks of my life. There are a number of factors that contributed to this, and I won’t go into much detail, but rather than be super inspired this week, I originally thought the whole thing was super cheesy. Everyone knows that they are supposed to love their bodies, but it’s a whole other battle to actually do it.

Fat Talk Free Week was a part of Furman University's Tri Delta Body Image 3D Campaign. It consisted of signing a pledge (listed at the bottom), trashing clothes that don’t make you feel good about yourself, and placing encouraging sticky notes on mirrors that aim to remind other girls of their beauty. I love everything this motivating week stands for, but I just wasn’t into it in the beginning. That changed in the middle of the week when I came across a particularly inspiring sticky note on my hall bathroom mirror. Seeing the exquisitely written words, “You’re altogether beautiful, there is no flaw in you,” directly next to my face as I looked at myself in the mirror was an intense concept to grasp. I stood there and glanced at the note, and then back at myself for about five minutes, until I realized that maybe this sticky note was trying to tell me something.

I realized in that moment that I wouldn’t go up to one of my best friends and tell her everything that's wrong with the way she looks, so why do I do that to myself? Why do girls stand in front of a mirror and point out everything “wrong” with the way they look? We’re supposed to love ourselves. We were made the way we are for a reason. Everyone is uniquely and exquisitely beautiful. Not acknowledging your own distinctive beauty is a shame.

So why can’t we let ourselves off the hook? Why do we insist that we need to look perfect, to be perfect? In our society today, it is so easy to look at others and compare ourselves to those “perfect” people. This is so, so wrong. No one person is perfect. No one person will ever be enough for society's standards, so why hold yourself to an impossible standard of beauty? In a particularly inspiring episode of "One Tree Hill" (actually let's face it, every episode is inspiring), Brooke Davis speaks out about her insecurities and why they are unrealistic.

This is what I want to tell myself: You are enough. You are beautiful and wonderful just the way you are. And more than that, I want to tell all women that, too. You are enough. You are beautiful and perfect. Believe that. Know that. Know it so deeply that you do not seek to look like someone else because they are thin and you feel fat. Know it so deeply that you celebrate your wonderfulness. Don’t keep wishing for a thin life. Live a big,fat,enormous life that is filled with worth, beauty and love.

There will always be things that you want to change about yourself, but instead of wishing away your days trying to change who you are and how you look, I would instead offer that you try to accept yourself and love the unique qualities that make you absolutely beautiful.

When you finally accept who you are, imperfections included, you'll be a much happier you. Could it be that these imperfections are the things that make you beautiful in the first place?