No one can honestly look anyone in the eye and say they have never once hated something about themselves. Now maybe this is because that’s how we are made. We were created with the desire to be perfect, to be absolutely flawless, but we were also created with impossible expectations of what perfect really is. How would you define the perfect person? I know I have sat and thought of this many times when looking in the mirror, but let me just tell you that the “perfect” person I created in my head will never exist, because the truth is, it isn’t possible. No matter what anyone tells you, perfect will never exist. You may be disagreeing with me now, but think of this. When you were little did you care how you dressed? Did you care if your hair was in the perfect pony tail all day? Did you even know what make up was? I can almost guarantee you didn’t care, and you didn’t know because when you are little the only thing that matters is staying happy.

Now think ahead a few years when you grew up a bit and were better able to understand what those TV commercials and magazine covers you always saw your mom look at, were saying. Big, bold, colorful letters splashed across almost everything you saw, always carrying some messages, like you need this make up to be pretty or using this diet will make you skinny. Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes a little improvement doesn’t hurt but it will when there is nothing to improve. Media today is spectacular but also toxic. Open up the internet and on every page is an ad for weight loss, face lifts, teeth whitening, and all type of unnecessary procedures to alter your image. Turn on the TV and every ad has some beautiful girl or handsome guy modeling the latest clothes trends for some company who is promising you that if you buy their product you can look like their models too! The truth is those models don’t even look like how they do in magazines and TV commercials. Make up and photo shop and lighting you would only find in a studio is used to make you think they really do look like that. It just leaves you sitting there wishing you could change yourself completely, but why would you want that? It you changed yourself to look like those models, you wouldn’t be you, you would be the model on the TV.

Why would you care how the person next to you does their hair or how they chose to dress today? Why should anyone care? It is their choice and only their choice. I see too many times people who are easily influenced by others to act completely differently from whom they really are because they want to be perfect; they want to be well liked and accepted. Is it worth it? In the end when you lose you and who you are and all you have left is what everyone else told you to be, did you really get what you want?

Just try and remember the problem isn’t with your body or who you are; the problem is what you think of yourself. When you stand in front of the mirror and narrow your eyes in on a long pink scar or your nose that you think is too big for your face. It’s not as bad as you assume it to be, nor is it something people are going to zero in on by themselves. Every single person in the world has some imperfect thing about them- whether it is a character trait or physical appearance. It is something that makes you…you. The things that make you different are things that you should embrace. It’s better to be unique and yourself than a clone of the person next to you. Don’t be afraid of yourself. You are irreplaceable, you are extraordinary, you are you and you need to embrace that.