Loving yourself is sometimes a tough thing to do. No matter what kind of day you're having you can find something wrong with yourself. With spring break soon approaching you're watching everyone trying to get into shape for the beach scene. But why? So many of us are not happy with ourselves. We say over and over again “Just love yourself, no one else matters, make yourself happy" and that really is so true. Why do we obsess over what others thing about us? What we feel about ourselves is what is going to make us happy.

Countless times I have looked in the mirror and thought, "I'm just not happy."

“I want to be taller."

"I wish I had blonder, longer hair."

“I wish I could pull off that dress that she's wearing."

"I want a thigh gap…"

(Guess what, Beyonce doesn't have a thigh gap, so you don't need one either!)

Life is really too short to not be happy every second of it. Your body shouldn't be a reason you aren't happy for every single minute of it. You are the only person that is going to make yourself truly happy. Even dating Zac Efron won't make you as happy as you loving YOU! Why waste a second thinking so negatively about the one thing you'll always have?

So make the pledge to love yourself! Once you realize that no one else's opinion matters as much as yours, you will do what makes you extremely happy. Don't starve yourself, eat when you're hungry. Sleep when you're tired. Surround yourself with things that make yourself feel beautiful and supported. Find a kind of exercise that you love and doesn't seem like a chore. Work out because you're excited to! Exercising releases so much stress and we can't deny we have loads of that lately. So don't exercise to make yourself unhappy, work to better your mind not only your body!

Don't let your body or what shape you're in keep you from doing what you love to do or things you want to go out and accomplish. Create goals that you can only accomplish by positively changing your thoughts about yourself. Goals that are a healthy change in your lifestyle. Wear clothes that express your style! Wearing clothes you love immediately brightens your outlook on yourself, you forget about those blemishes that you think you have. Instead of wearing sweatpants, (as much as we all love them) try to get ready and dress in the style you love. This makes you feel so much more confident about yourself.

So I challenge YOU to do YOU! Spend all that time and energy you waste hating your body on things that you love. Once you make the switch you will realize how much extra time you have on your hands for things you could be doing to better yourself and your mind. Count all the things you love about your body instead of the things you do not like. A little task as simple as that can dramatically change your outlook on yourself. What others think of you does really not matter, you are the one that is living in your own skin and you're the one that has to live with it. Loving the skin you're in will make you feel better then losing 10 pounds and getting abs (this doesn't sound realistic, but it IS!) So go out and do YOU. And I promise you, you will find yourself happier and healthier then before.

BE-YOU-TIFUL!