Every day, I wake up and take a shower. I get out. My hair is soaked and the make-up I forgot to take off the night before is running down my face. But you know what? I am still so damn gorgeous.

Every time I walk past a mirror or even some reflective windows, I stop and stare at myself. Sometimes I’m even late for class because I can’t stop looking.

So maybe I’m exaggerating a little, but the point is the same. I’m not going to lie to you about this; I am conceited. But what’s the issue with that?

I have a right to think I’m the greatest thing since sliced bread. In fact, what makes me so amazing is the fact that I think I’m so amazing.

Let’s go back a few years to when my life wasn’t so great.

I’m thirteen. I just started high school and I knew no one except my sister, who was a grade ahead of me and a cheerleader. I was in the marching band and had no idea how to dress since I had worn a uniform all my life until this point. To top it all off, I wanted to be scene, but my dad wouldn’t allow me to wear neon colored skinny jeans or wear that much make up so I pretty much just wore zebra stripes and graphic tees every day.

Surprisingly, I made a lot of friends and I even had an in with a lot of the popular girls in my grade. I still didn’t think too highly of myself and I thought my popularity was more due to people wanting to cheat off me in bio – which happened quite a lot.

I joined drama club and had my debut role as “girl with cup.” This was honestly the most daring thing I had done with my life up to this point. What made it worse was the fact that they put me in a little black body con dress with cut outs on the side. I had never felt more vulnerable. A spotlight on me in revealing clothing. The horror.

Luckily for me, a post I saw on Tumblr – a place I used to vent about how horrible my life was – changed my life.

“One day I woke up and said I was beautiful. And then I was.”

My entire life view was shattered. I was the only person putting myself down. I dressed so others wouldn’t notice me. I kept to myself in school. I didn’t make plans to hang out with people on the weekends or after class. I was my own worst enemy.

It was time for me to be in control of my life and my happiness.

I basically threw out all of my clothes and bought new ones. I chopped all my hair off. I told that boy I had been crushing on forever that I liked him and we started dating.

Life was good. And it was all because I decided it was good.

People started to notice. They told me how much I changed since freshman year and applauded me for it.

Going into college, I didn’t know what to expect. But you know what? I woke up every morning and told myself everything was alright. Because it was.

People would always – and still do - ask me how I was always so confident. And you know what I tell them?

You decide your own happiness. Wake up and believe you are beautiful because you are.

If you don’t believe me, start today. Look in the mirror and tell yourself that you are beautiful and successful. Do it every time you pass a mirror. Trust me, you will start to believe it. You will realize that you have been beautiful and amazing all along – all it took was for you to recognize it.