This one's for the ladies

I wish I could be a self-esteem counselor, specifically for girls with self-image issues. I feel like I'm at a really good place with myself and my body right now. It's taken a lot of work to get here, though.

I don't understand where this pressure for American girls to be skinny originated. And men don't even seem to understand that it's there. Honestly, maybe only ONE in ten girls (if you're lucky) doesn't struggle constantly with her self-image, constantly being the operative word. I firmly believe that all women experience dissatisfaction with their body shape or weight at least once in a while. Even though my attitude about my own body has improved substantially, I still get disappointed with myself every now and then and wish that for once I could be the super-skinny, physically flawless Victoria's Secret model inside my Cosmopolitan magazine.

But the thing is, unless you are that model, you can never be that model. Everyone on Earth has unique body, and no matter how hard you work it, no matter how many things you do to modify it, it will never be the body you see in the magazine. At least in your mind.

It's all just frame of mind, really. You will never be enough unless you believe that you can be. I think that's the problem with the female American culture: we constantly tell ourselves that we'll never be enough. We're always wanting something more. The media only intensifies the message we're sending ourselves.

Like I've said, I've worked long and hard to get to this point of self-acceptance. Rather than viewing my body as something superficial, something that is only there for looks, I view it as a functional vessel. It exists so that I can do things, like learn, cook, play an instrument, create artwork, sing, walk seven miles, and love other people. It is a house for my personality and my spirit. It is something that is very important that should be taken care of and loved, not hated and deprived.

I wish I could help my fellow girls in understanding this idea. It's really difficult discovering this truth by yourself. And coming to this realization has improved my life on the whole, not just in the self-esteem department, so I hope that I can help guide other ladies toward a similar positive change in their lives.