I bet you were just scrolling through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat, comparing yourself to every girl, wishing you were "perfect" and looked just liked them. You know how I know that? Because I was just doing the same thing. Then you stumbled upon this article and decided to click on it because you really needed help with finding the secret to confidence or looking just like the girls who are "goals" with their perfect teeth, perfect hair, perfect skin, perfect body, perfect EVERYTHING.
I was just getting ready to go to bed when I was doing my typical social media run through before I passed out. I tell myself every single night that I'm not going to do my regular hour-long routine of "finding a new girl or model I can stalk so I can torture myself even more" only to be disappointed in myself yet again. I just can't help it! Each time I throw my phone across my bed feeling so dang jealous and sometimes sick to my stomach (I know, silly). Why can't I look like that???
Why can't I be taller?
Why can't I be skinnier?
Why can't I have a bigger butt?
Why can't I dance like her?
Why can't I have abs?
How after the 100 selfies I've taken do they still look better than me??
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.
STOPPP.
I'm always going to compare myself to others. Always. But you know what? I guarantee you that the girls we think are absolutely stunning are constantly comparing themselves to others as well, whether they admit it or not. Society has implanted lies in all of our heads on what the perfect body looks like. I see twelve-year-old girls who are drop dead gorgeous with their flawless makeup looking so much better than I did at their age. All I can think is "?!!!??!" Where are their awkward pics with their bright blue lipstick and all the colors of the rainbow eyeshadow?? Where are the pictures of their metal mouths?? Then the question, "Am I seriously jealous of 13, 14, and 15-year-olds?" popped in my head.
Are you freaking kidding me???
By that point, I started laughing realizing I was being ridiculous.
Like I said before, we are always going to compare ourselves to others. Even the women who get voted "Most beautiful woman in the world" every year compare themselves to others. I'm sure all the Victoria's Secret models do as well because they're surrounded by other models! If you want to be skinnier, then work out, eat healthier and do something about it. If you want to have abs, then do something about it. If you want to be tanner, THEN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. If that's truly what you need to feel better about yourself, then stop wishing it and make it happen.
It's that simple, huh? HA! I WISH!
I for one love my sweets and that's something I'm always going to struggle with. Old habits die hard and it's something I know to be very very true on anything and everything. With that being said, you have to find a balance.You know what your goal is and whether you get to that point or not is completely up to you.
If it's one thing I do know, it's that your physical beauty fades and doesn't last forever.
I've come to terms with the fact that someone will always be prettier, PHYSICALLY. But in the long run, it doesn't matter. Yes, being complimented and called pretty, gorgeous or beautiful is a great feeling, but what matters is your character and who you are as a person. We also need to realize that behind every girl's mask of makeup, we're all the same on a physical sense.
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how many Instagram/Facebook likes we get or favorites and retweets on twitter. If you live for that, then girl, you're in for a rude awakening! If you feel beautiful in one of the pictures you've taken, then post it! Screw the likes and retweets!
There's only one of you! Represent yourself the best way you believe is good enough and don't think for one second that anyone is better than you. It's a process but as soon as you accept who you are, your beauty will shine.
Prayer can go a long way which is exactly what I did.
Instead of going to bed feeling super insecure, I decided to pray about it. Instead of asking God why he didn't make me taller or tanner, or everything else that is on my wish list of what I think is "goals," I asked God kindly to take this jealous heart of mine away and help me realize that he made me the way I am for a reason. From my tiny nose and freckles on my skin to my pigeon-toed ugly feet (thanks, dad). I thanked him because he doesn't make mistakes and he made us the way we are for a reason. I mean, it only took him a little over half a year to carefully create us. That must mean something, right? Yes. Actually it does. He didn't just create us, he created us with months of detail.
I'd much rather be known as someone with a beautiful soul rather than just a beautiful girl physically. I pray that anyone who is going through the same thing that you see yourself only through Gods eyes rather than what society has brainwashed our heads with. Be true to yourself and STOP COMPARING YOURSELF to people.
The saying "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder," goes to say that defining beauty can be tough. However, God's words can lead us to discover what our individual meaning of beauty truly is and should be; that is deter from looking at physical appearance for God looks at the heart in all people and things.
Here's a few bible versus for anyone who starts to feel insecure....
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 1 Peter 3:3-4
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.2 Corinthians 4:16
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.Ephesians 2:10