As I watched the Netflix Original movie Dumplin', it continuously hit me in the heart. Dealing with body image issues and learning to love myself for who I am has been a constant battle. Not feeling good enough to be loved because how I look, and not having the body society wants every girl to have has taken a toll on me. No matter how many times someone said that I am beautiful, I have always thought "you're just saying that because you have to". I could not take the compliment because I am not secure in myself.

Body image issues stem from society and its unnatural thought of how women's body's "should" look like. This harms everyone's mental health to where we start to think our bodies are not good enough because we don't fit that "standard".

There was a scene in the movie where a boy confesses his crush on the main character and she asks "why?" and he doesn't understand what she means. She continues to go "Why me? Do you not see this?" I started crying because I have felt the same way so many times in my life. It is hard to feel beautiful when we are constantly surrounded by criticism no matter what we look like. We could lose weight and told that we look sick. We could gain weight and be told that we are fat. Why? Just Why? This has been a constant struggle for centuries as society's standards continue to change.

The main character is plus size and signs up for a pageant as a "revolution" because she felt that she was not accepted in the culture of pageants. In the movie she is accepted and learns to love herself and that not all things are as skeptical as they seem. Her three friends and she go into the process of the pageant without the idea of winning or wanting to win. Which is where the main character learns that her body is accepted in such a society.

The main character in the movie loved Dolly Parton, and one of Dolly's quotes stuck with me after watching the movie. "Find out who you are, and do it on purpose" In this crazy, always changing world, it can be hard to find out who you truly are. This is my quote for the year because it gives you motivation and confidence in who you are on the inside.

This year is the year to be yourself. To love yourself. To be confident in who you are on the inside and definitely the outside. Embrace who you are. You are one of a kind.

Let this year be the year for YOU.