I hate numbers.

Not that I hate math. I hate numbers in the very same way I hate words, and as an editor for my Odyssey community, it's obvious that I really don't hate words.

What I hate, to clarify, is labels.

I honestly think at this point I have been called them all. I have been labeled some good things, and I have also been called things that are downright ugly.

And while words obviously play a huge role in this labelling, the thing I think people fail to realize is, so do numbers.

I live in a world where my worth is determined by my height, my weight, the size of my chest and how may inches measure around my hips.

But it's not all just about my body...

Way too many people have defined me by my standardized test scores, GPA, how many hours I work, how many student activities I'm a part of and how many credits I can squeeze in a given semester without falling apart.

Or how about these numbers: the amount of friends I have, the amount of people that I've been involved with, or how about where I fall on that scale the ranges from 1-10 that boys and girls use to "rate" each other.

I hate living in a world where these numbers define me. I feel like I'm always caught in a constant balancing act: If I try to maintain or bring up my GPA, I sacrifice money for study materials.

I feel like no matter what I do, I can't get the numbers to fall where I want them. I'm constantly striving to bring some numbers up, some down, and keep a few the same.

It's tiring.

I am not a score on a test or a grade in a class. I am not the number of friends I have. I am not a number on a scale.

I wish that, with this article, this sort of number-labelling would disappear into the abyss forever. However, unfortunately, it won't.

However, this is my call to you to love yourself. No matter what numbers feed into your insecurity.

You are so much more than a series of numbers.

You're a human being, a beautiful one, and you should be proud.