Your "Flaws" are not Flaws

Think about your body. What's wrong with it? What about your body is flawed? Is your nose too big, your eyes too small? Do you have cellulite, wrinkles, fat in places you wish you didn't? Think about all of these things. Now think about where you learned to be ashamed of these traits. What's so wrong about your nose, who said it's too big? Who are you comparing yourself to? What's wrong with being fat? Where do you learn to value thinness? How many fat people do you see represented positively in media?

Everything we've learned to love or hate about our bodies has been taught by the media and society. We live in a society where our natural bodies are wrong in one way or another, and the only way to make it better is to pop a magical pill so you can drop 10lbs in 5 days and finally be beautiful or use an expensive product to banish that cellulite so you can be happy. But what happens when you lose the weight, when the cellulite disappears, and you're still stuck with that same "I'm not good enough mentality?" Weren't you supposed to suddenly have all of this beauty, happiness, and confidence? The product guaranteed it!

There is nothing more beautiful than completely rejecting an industry that thrives on making you hate yourself. Few things are more empowering than loving yourself unconditionally and truly accepting yourself as you are, always. To love yourself means to love your body at every weight, at every size. To love and accept the shape of your eyes and the way your left eye squints more than the right when you smile. To love yourself means to respect yourself. Rejecting unrealistic beauty standards, only achieved through photoshopping out organs and ribs, is to truly be free. It's not easy, but I can say that it's worth it. There's nothing wrong with wanting to lose weight, to wear make up, or smooth out your armpits. It's understanding that our bodies have a weight range it's happiest at. Not all bodies can be healthy and a size 3 at the same time, and that's okay. What's wrong with NOT being a size 3, anyway? Why is being thin so ideal? Do you truly believe that's when you'll be beautiful? What happens when you're still not satisfied at that size? How will being any smaller change your mentality? It's understanding that your body is perfect no matter what it looks like, and it's knowing that you will accept it will hairy armpits or with smooth armpits.

Your "flaws" are not flaws. Do not let an industry that thrives on making sure you hate your armpits control you. Your body is precious, it is unique, and it is yours. It's the only one you have, and you can either spend the rest of your life being ashamed of it or embracing it. Don't let advertisers make you feel inadequate. You do not need to lose 10 pounds in order to FINALLY be decent enough to step out in your favourite bikini. You don't need to change a single thing about yourself, unless you want to. And if you don't? That's awesome! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Your body deserves to be celebrated and cherished. Don't let a malicious industry tell you to hide it because it doesn't stand up to a ridiculous beauty trend (that's going to change in the future anyway!). It's your body, your rules. You can rock that bikini just as well as anyone else. Be confident in what you wear and what you do, and be proud of who you are.