Who, me . . . ‘perfect’?

When you look in the mirror, can you honestly say that you love yourself? Can you see the reflection and say that you don’t see anything you don’t like? Well I couldn’t. 

Since I was young and started worrying about how I presented myself, the issue of image continually resided in my head. We all know how cosmetics and clothes ads display the “perfect image,” and since I loved looking through style magazines, I was well aware of that image. To me, every other girl was so much prettier, skinnier, and just plain better. I remember looking in the mirror and feeling horrible about myself. I wasn’t the most popular girl, and to be honest, I wasn’t the weight I wanted to be. 

To make things worse, I was self-conscious and sensitive so any small comment could affect me. Not only did I not like my image, but I hated who I was. I was shy and never liked to take risks. I always did the things that I knew I could do instead of pushing myself to step out of my comfort zone. To fix these imperfections, I tried different exercise routines, learned how to use makeup, pretended to be like everyone else—anything I could do. I was tired of who I was and just wanted to be like everyone else.

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The flower and the sun
October 24, 2011
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