I know what you're thinking, "wow that girl must be extremely selfish." Well actually, I am quite the opposite...

There was a girl who lacked confidence, not completely but definitely could hide her lack of confidence pretty well. She stressed about the little things and depending on the circumstance she didn't know how to use her voice. She wasn't always like this however, there were some places where she felt comfort, felt like she could be herself. One of these places was in her dance classes. She beamed with confidence, loved to perform and truly felt her place in the world. But she never understood why she couldn't feel that way other places. For example, high school. High school is a stressful time for all and now she knows that she was one of many who didn't feel like she could be herself. Of course with her best friends she could be but not at school, not in the way she was when she was dancing. This is a valuable thing to know, because she wasn't all alone. Many don't find their place until college or even later on in life so don't forget that. It is all a mind game, you have to train yourself to accept and be mindful of your flaws, to embrace yourself. So she did…

She fell in love with the way she couldn't hide a single thing she thought because of her expressive face.

She loved the way she laughed at jokes way longer than everyone else did.

She loved the way she was sensitive and felt everything so strongly.

She fell in love with the thoughts constantly racing through her head, making her over-think just about everything.

She fell in love with her smile, wearing it everywhere.

There were many things she fell in love with but most importantly, she fell in love with herself.

Love yourself. Something so simple.You are constantly being told to love yourself before others and for someone like me people don't realize how hard that can be. What seems like a simple task just really isn't. We've all struggled with it at some point in our lives, it all comes with maturity and growing up. Constantly caring and thinking about others, it felt impossible for me to be selfish. Selfishness can be seen so negatively but sometimes it is not always a bad thing, especially in college. Everyone must fend for themselves and that took a while for me to realize that. I'm still learning. You are basically on your own now, the first experience for many being away from home. If you aren't loving and taking care of yourself, than it will not be a healthy experience. It takes time to learn such a simple task but you will, so don't give up on yourself either. If I can do it, you can too.