This week I talked to 14 people and they shared with me the things that they love about their bodies as well as their views on being confident.
1."The type of love I believe in only comes from one place, yourself. For a long time I had a hard time loving myself, to be able to look in the mirror and smile is a hard thing to do. For a long time I thought the only validation and fulfillment in my life could come from others, I searched high and low for someone to love me to make me feel full but in the end, I just kept draining myself. At the end of the day I was alone in my bed, and in those dark hours when the world is quiet, there isn't anyone except yourself to give you meaning. I remember days and nights where being awake was too much to bear, where dying seemed easier than smiling and where bleeding felt better than love. I believe in love, I believe in the importance of waking up every morning and smiling into the mirror. I believe in body positivity. I believe in equality." -Leah, 17.
2. "I love my eyes. The way they can be warm one moment and fierce the next. Eyes are a huge indicator of someone's mood, and I when my eyes are smiling, you can see the true happiness on my face." -Christina, 16.
3. "I'm still working on loving my natural self and my body. I want to get to the point where I'm not asking people for reassurance or comparing myself or calling myself names. It's so harmful to my mental, physical, and emotional health. I haven't been wearing makeup hardly ever lately, and I'm barely beginning to realize that i don't need it to feel or look pretty all the time. I want to love myself the way I look at others girls and admire them. "Another woman's beauty is not the absence of your own." This is a quote I try to remind myself of often."
-Kaylee, 17.
4. "I learned this year that I am NOT required to live up to the harsh beauty standards of today's society. I've learned that everything about my body is art and that I should admire it. I am not going to be a harsh critic. My stretch marks, my insecurities--they're just more of me. More of me to love, to appreciate, to discover. I've learned that my body is mine therefore no one can tell me it is wrong. I have learned that I will never look like a Victoria Secret model in my two piece bathing suit, and that's okay. I'll look like myself, and I'll be my own model. Most importantly, I've learned that everyone on this earth is beautiful and inspiring, and so am I." -Abigail, 16.
5. "One thing I probably love about my body is my boobs. I appreciate how big they are and so do other people." -Keonna, 16.
6. "For a while I didn't like who I was, or how I saw myself, my parents even degraded me for how I looked. I remember being on Instagram one day and seeing all these beautiful models who were 'bigger,' and I told myself, from that day on I was going to love myself. I still make have my issues here and there, about how I look but I remember to tell myself 'I look wonderful and perfect, and the people who hate and or rude are jealous of how fabulous I am.' I have an amazing best friend who has helped and supported me with loving myself. And to this day I continue to strive to love myself and eat healthier and everything."-Kai, 17.
7. "To be asked what I have learned to love about my body this year for me used to be something I couldn't answer. I typically would run from such a question, knowing in my head and heart that there wasn't something I loved about it. As I've grown, one of the biggest things I have learned is you cannot make everyone happy, but it is always important to find happiness in yourself. Instead of making a new year's resolution to fix something in the mirror, make a resolution to love something in it instead."-Laurie, 26.
8. "I think the biggest part of myself is my heritage. When I moved to Cedar Springs, I instantly felt different. I felt like... an Oreo in milk. I was conscious about what I said and what I wore and how I did my hair so I didn't seem "ghetto." I tried so hard to fit in and to feel accepted, I felt like I wasn't even being my self at one point. I wanted long blonde hair, flat breasts, smooth light skin, blue eyes, a button nose, and to be super thin. I didn't want curly hair, a broad nose, big breasts, thick thighs, caramel skin or boring brown eyes. It wasn't until last summer, the summer of 2015, that I realized that my differences are so beautiful."-Antiaisha, 16.
9. "I love how my body is the vessel for my soul and supports all the growth and change I endure. I love how my body can emit confidence to all those around me and inspire them to be just as confident."-Leah, 18.
10. "This year I gained weight, I lost weight, I felt weak and strong, beautiful and ugly, and had never treated my body so poorly or so carefully. In the midst of all of this, I learned to love my body. My stretch marks, my scars, the little hairs on my cheeks, are completely my own and symbols for what my body has carried me through. I learned to love that my body wants me to survive and that I learned to give my body a fighting chance."-Nicole, 18.
11. "If you think you should lose weight, do it for your health and yourself. I lost 70 pounds in a year and feel more confident about what I wear and how I look in public."-Ryan, 19.
12. "My favorite part about myself is my mind. It forces me to overthink simple concepts and find different ways to look at anything I encounter. It does more for me than any body part could ever do. I am obsessed with the fact that in order to judge someone's mind, a person must familiarize themselves with the thoughts that go through it first, as opposed to judging physical appearance just by what meets the eye. It's the only thing society can't make regulations for. My head is a beautiful mess."-Carly, 16.
13. "I think being body positive is really important because for the longest time, I hated everything about my body. I have days where I still hate everything about my body and I'm obsessed with my weight, weighing myself every day. I learned that being body positive is actually really important because it made me a better person. I hated doing things with friends out in public or going swimming because I always felt like I was the biggest one there, and the one with all of the stretch marks, but in reality, if they are a true friend they honestly don't care." -Alisha, 16.
14. "I've learned to embrace the fact that I live in my own body, and I should make myself feel like the best version of myself that I possibly can because life is too short to not live up to who you truly are."-Jaxxon, 15.
