As I've gotten older, I have become more and more aware of the amount of time, energy, stress and money that myself and many women put into our appearances. I have spent countless days sacrificing an extra hour of sleep just so I had time to curl my hair or put extra effort into my makeup. My friends and I have spent too many nights standing in front of the mirror, picking apart our appearances before we head out for the night. There have been so many times where I have heard girls say that they don't feel comfortable leaving their house without makeup on, or that they feel ugly when they go outside in sweatpants.

I don't know what makes me more frustrated about this, the fact that is so common for girls to feel this way, the fact that this is insecurity that a man will never have to deal with or the fact that women are raised to put their beauty first, and therefore we don't even realize when we are doing things that are unhealthy. It is so weird when you think about it...the fact that I always grew up believing that it was "normal" for women to wear makeup. I almost felt like it was expected of me in society once I became a teenager. It's "normal" for a girl to spend excess time, money and energy to make herself look more beautiful.

It's frustrating to me that we live in a society that puts women down for the purpose of making money in the beauty industry. It is sickening that young girls think that boys won't like them if they leave the house without mascara on. I used to think that if I spent, even more, time and more money to make myself look better, I would be able to catch any guy's attention. But then I made the amazing realization that if a guy didn't like me for my natural appearance than he really wasn't worth my time at all. Unfortunately, many girls never come to that realization.

Think about the amazing things we would have more time to do if we spent less time caring about what we looked like. We could have more time to study for the tests we're gonna ace. We could start writing a blog or have more time to catch up with old friends. We could focus on studying for the GMAT, GRE, or LSAT and work towards accomplishing amazing goals. I could get back that extra hour of sleep.

When you really think about it, it is so silly to spend that time trying to get both sides of your eyeliner even or trying a new face mask that's "guaranteed to get rid of all your blackheads." I'd much rather spend my time doing things that actually matter. Why aren't we raising our girls to have loud, proud voices instead of putting them in beauty pageants and telling them they need to cover up their natural faces? Can we please, please change that?