When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you see yourself for who you really are?

Of course you don’t.

You see your acne covered face, you’re damaged hair, and your baggy eyes. You see all of these traits that society has told you are not good enough; you see improvements that should be made.

When you are at work or in class, you can feel those flaws becoming more obvious, as if there is a spotlight on each and every one of them, making them brighter and brighter. That spotlight not only makes them feel obvious to the people around you, but also to yourself. It burns into your brain that they are there when they shouldn’t be - and that you are not good enough.

Your lack of confidence only fuels this fire.

Your insecurities grow and your self-worth shrinks.

You remind me of my mother. My mother is one of the most beautiful people I know. She is shy and self-kept, but also very spunky, hilarious, and downright adorable. She is amazing.

But she looks at herself differently; she doesn’t see what I see. She sees herself as something that needs to be better. She thinks negatively about herself. It is so frustrating how she cannot see something that is so clear and right out in the open.

In this way, she is like a butterfly.

When we see a butterfly, we see the beautiful color on its wings. We see the unique designs or patterns that are different on each butterfly, and we gawk at it. But the butterfly will never see this part of itself. The butterfly does not see the real beauty that others see. It doesn't know it's beautiful... But we all do.

You are like the butterfly.

No matter what you have done in your life, no matter what you have or haven't accomplished, you are beautiful - inside and out.

Big or small. Black or white. Outgoing or introverted. Whether the chemicals in your brain are balanced or imbalanced. You. Are. Beautiful.

Put down the razor, quiet that negative noise, and listen. You are not supposed to look like that model in the magazine. You are not supposed to have washboard abs like that jock your crush likes. You are not supposed to have zero flaws.

Don’t you see?

It’s our flaws that make us who we are.

I have struggled with depression and anxiety for as long as I can remember - it’s who I am. Sure, life would be extremely easier for me and the people in my life if I didn’t have this struggle, but it also wouldn’t be my life. My insecurities make me the person I am. The freckles on my face make me who I am. The slight double chin I get sometimes - that’s me! I would not be me without any of these things.

We all are here for a reason; you are here for a reason, and you would not be you without your flaws.

Flaws are unique. Flaws are beautiful.

Go back to the mirror. Do you see what I see now? Do you see the beauty you have inside... and out? If you don’t, look harder. I may not know you, but I don’t need to.

It’s there. I promise you.