In this society that we live in, we are all held to absurdly difficult beauty standards. You have to be a certain weight, height, skin tone etc. in order to be considered "beautiful." The most absurd standard, however, is the idea that a woman is only perfect if she has absolutely no stretch marks.

Stretch marks can be cause by a variety of things, and they are usually very painful and expensive to get rid of. What we seem to forget, however, is that they are completely natural. Everyone has them. If someone tells you that they have never once had a stretch mark in their life, they are either (a) lying or (b) some sort of alien from a different planet.

We tend to buy into media's photoshopping and false images of perfect skin. We believe in those "miracle creams" that the television tells us will make our skin glow like never before. But here's the thing: there is no need for any of that.

I used to care so much about what others would think about my stretch marks. I used to constantly obsess over all my imperfections, to the point where I wouldn't wear crop tops or tank tops because I didn't want my marks showing.

But then, slowly, I started to realize that it really does not matter. No person on this planet is perfect, and that is alright.

Imperfection is far more beautiful.

I might not be 100% confident all the time, but I am changing. I have (mostly) stopped caring about what others think, and I try to embrace my body. I wear what I want to, what I feel most comfortable in.

So, here's to the people who feel insecure about their body, who shy away because of stretch marks or any other imperfection:

You are beautiful. You deserve to be able to show off your body and love it, own it and be proud of who you are. Don't let anyone tell you that you're anything less than amazing.

Here's to stretch marks, and here's to abolishing meaningless beauty standards.