Throughout my whole life, I've never been skinny. I've always had problems with my weight and because of that, I grew up with many insecurities about my body. I was constantly worried if people saw the flaws that I saw in it. Could they see my stomach roll when I sat down? Can people notice that my shirt got a little tighter on me? Growing up, I hated going shopping with my friends because I didn't want them to see what size my shirts were. While they shopped I'd just take a quick glance at all the more options my skinnier friends had. I was always constantly aware of my eating habits in front of my friends and would decide to eat as little as possible in front of them.

In middle school, I used hoodies as a way to cover up my body but during that time I found a lot about myself. Towards the end of middle school, I left my hoodie phase and started to embrace my body. Instead of hiding it, I would wear clothes that I looked nice in and put myself more out there. Although I still had my insecurities, I didn't let them get to me the way they once did. It took a while for me to accept my body. From a young age, I was taught that being skinny was something I should strive for but I learned to love my curves.

Though there are still days that I don't particularly like what I see in the mirror, I just think of how far I've come from hiding my body to showing it off. With the increase of social media stardom, body positivity became more and more common. Actually seeing other girls that look like me and loving themselves really taught me that everyone is beautiful in their own way. There's no one shape that makes someone better or prettier than the next.

It's a hard thing to learn but it's getting easier for girls like me who grew insecure to feel better about their bodies. It's important to remember to be patient while learning to love your body. It's not something that comes overnight. It's a process that you have to work at every day. It's easy to slip back into that mentality but you must always be kind to your body. We only have one body so we can't be mean to it. It's time to grab your favorite outfit and celebrate the body that you were born with. No matter what shape, size or weight, you're beautiful and unique in every way.