One of the most important things in the world is self-affirmation. Telling yourself you are good enough, you are beautiful, you are awesome is so crucial to loving yourself, accepting who you are, and being the most confident you can be. In a world where mental health is an unspoken topic, self-affirmation is one of the biggest keys to good mental health.

I have not always had good mental health; up until last year I hated myself. I only saw my flaws, felt worthless, and felt as though I would never be good enough. I have spent many days and nights crying because I absolutely hated myself so much.

Both relying on God to get me through it and constant self-affirmation changed my mental health drastically; I am in the best place I have ever been with myself and love who I am. It is a journey and it is not easy, but that self-affirmation does wonders. When the most influential voice, yours, tells you positive things about yourself, it makes a difference.

One of the things I lived by when I was struggling with my self-esteem and mental health was the saying "fake it 'til ya make it". On the days when the last thing I believed was anything good about myself, I would fake it until I made it. Even if you do not believe the positivity, tell it to yourself anyways; do it everyday, many times a day. That constant self-affirmation and positivity eventually will become something you believe.

Something else I did was, I would write positive things about myself on notes and leave the notes in places I would always see them. I had a note on my mirror and in my car and seeing those constantly radically changed me and the way I viewed myself. I still have them on my mirror and in my car as both a reminder of who I am and a reminder of where I have come from.

I know it does not seem like anything will help and right now it probably won't, but you have to start somewhere. It will eventually help and one day instead of crying sad tears because of how much you dislike yourself, you will cry happy tears because of how much you love yourself and because you are finally out of that dark spot.

I and so many other girls are living examples that it does not last forever and it does get better. I promise, the self-affirmation will help and you will be able to look at yourself as the beautiful and wonderful person you are.