Article October 24, 2011 Issue

Who, me . . . ‘perfect’?

By Ashley Woodley

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.