Opinion | Being Real in an Unrealistic World

Looking in the mirror, I saw all my flaws. I saw what others don’t or can’t see. I saw all of the ugly, all of the fat, all of the imperfections. I saw a woman who looked nothing like the women on T.V. or in magazines. I saw the cellulite, the bat wings and the muffin top. I looked closer; there’s the acne. I wondered to myself, why can’t I look like those women? I thought, I need to start trying to look like them. I need to start wearing my makeup like them, doing my hair like them, wearing the same type of clothes and I need to get skinny.

Why is it that the media has to photo shop pictures of women? Why does society have to have such unrealistic standards for women? I don’t understand how people can be okay with this, especially since celebrities explain how photo shopped their pictures are. So why do media continue to photo shop celebs? It is this type of thing that makes our younger girls dress the way they dress, start wearing makeup at younger ages and believing they are not pretty enough as they are. This is not what is important in life, but society has made it important. When the younger generations grow up they become more worried about becoming famous than becoming successful.

I still struggle with believing that I’m not pretty enough, but for the most part I have overcome this way of thinking by realizing that I am a beautiful person. I realized that when I focus on making myself better on the inside; when I put a smile on and treat people the way I want to be treated; people become naturally drawn to me. People want to be around those who are happy and who are genuinely nice. So instead of drowning myself in the misery of not looking perfect, I embraced being perfectly imperfect. It is because of working on myself that people want to be around me and people believe I’m beautiful. I’ve been told that when I walk into a room smiling that I light up the room. People get excited to be around me and that makes me feel amazing.

The best way to overcome your thoughts and feelings of not being worth anything because you aren’t as beautiful and flawless as you think you should be, is to realize your worth and to work on being a genuine, kind, loving, and fun person. Your individuality is what makes you who you are and that is not something you want to give up. Be unique, be yourself, be confident, be whatever it is you want to be, but don’t try to be like the flawless pictures you see; you are what makes you beautiful.