"It doesn't make sense to call ourselves ugly because we don't really see ourselves. We don't watch ourselves sleeping in bed curled up and silent with chests rising and falling with our own rhythm. We don't see ourselves reading a book, eyes fluttering and glowing. You don't see yourself looking at someone with care inside your heart. There's no mirror in your way when you're laughing and smiling and happiness is leaking out of you. You would know exactly how bright and beautiful you are if you saw yourself in the moments where you are truly beautiful".

As I was flipping through the pictures in my computer, trying to clean it out and also reminisce at the same time, I came across this quote. I'm not sure where I found it, but I discovered it in December of last year.

As 2017 starts, I feel that it was perfect timing that I re-discovered this quote. Yes, I frequently don't feel the prettiest, but I need to take this quote to heart. It's okay if you feel like today wasn't one of your best looking days you've ever had, but don't convince yourself that you're ugly.

The society we live in today tends to make you feel...less (for lack of a better word). You feel less pretty, you think less of yourself, you do less for yourself. Don't believe it. We know that photoshop is a thing, and that it is heavily used in today's media and advertising, yet these images that society shoves down our throats-we swallow.

You see people around you all the time in these moments in the quotes above. You find them beautiful in those moments. Don't interpret them as a sign that you aren't just as beautiful as they are. There is always someone that's going to find beauty just by simply looking at you. They will find even more beauty once you laugh, or see someone you love for the first time in a long time, or when you're doing something you truly love.

So don't let this world make you swallow the idea that you aren't beautiful. You are just by living. You are just by doing the things you love and surrounding yourself with the people you enjoy and care for. Don't look at those "models" in the magazine and compare yourself. Yes, I admit this is a terribly hard thing to do, but the body that you're in is just as beautiful. The only person that's telling you that it's not, is you.

So for 2017, believe in yourself. Believe in your own beauty, both on the inside and outside. You've got it in you and there's no doubt about it.