I don't have perfect skin, I don't have the perfect body, my hair looks ratty a majority of the time, I never wear makeup and I'm not a model – but I wouldn't have it any other way. Life is too short to worry about what I look like when something as silly as looks really just isn't that important. I know it sounds cheesy and cliché, but it's what is on the inside that counts.

Over the last several years and especially in my freshman year of college, I become more confident in who I am and secure in who I want to be known as; all of those things that people see as beautiful just melt away for me. I mean it when I say that I truly do not care what other people think of me; I do not care if guys think I'm hot and I do not care if I'm desirable for my appearances. Someday, I want someone to love me for who I am, not because I look good all the time and because I spend hours in front of a mirror every morning making sure that my hair is perfect.

Someday, I want someone to see me through God's eyes and think I'm perfect when I wake up in the morning, with my hair greasy and snarled, my face was strewn with zits and big pores, and maybe even a few fat rolls on my stomach. I'm blessed that God has given me that security knowing I'm perfect despite how I look because looks fade. I think there is beauty in passion, humor, work ethic and so many other qualities that define a person better than outward appearances. God has led me to become comfortable with that fact.

When I was in middle school, like many, many others, I was pretty insecure. Then, I accepted God into my heart through baptism and my life has changed ever since. Through Him, I have found myself and become a person I can be proud of. I stopped caring what anyone thought about me, especially what I wore or how I looked and started living a life that I loved. No makeup, hair up in a ponytail and sweats is how I want to live my life, and I know that someday God will bless me with someone who loves me for that.

My parents have also taught me that I am loved and cared about despite any outward appearances. They see me in ways that I could never see myself, in my best and worst moments, and they love me through it all. They tell me they think I look beautiful even when I roll out of bed in the morning at noon on the weekend looking like a mess just as much as they tell me how beautiful I was at my senior prom – if not more. I can always count on them for support when I'm not seeing what they see.

Just because it was cool in middle school and high school to be pretty and popular doesn't mean that's how life should be forever. Popularity and looks don't matter, it's what you are made of and how you act that matters. I have been fortunate enough to have people in my life who help boost my confidence in ways that support my talents and qualities more than my looks and I hope that someday everyone has someone to do that for them because we all are beautiful in our own ways and everyone deserves to find someone who sees them as God does.