Just FYI: You Look Fine

Have you ever felt guilty about eating? Like when you put food into your mouth, someone’s going to come along and tell you that you don’t deserve it, that if you keep eating the way you are, you’re going to get fat, and that you take up too much space as it is?

Have you ever looked in the mirror and pinched the extra flab on your body? Pulled it off, convinced that it’ll be gone by next week? Have you ever thought that you’re not as pretty as any of your friends because they have flat stomachs with not an inch of flab and you don’t?

Have you ever felt that you constantly had to watch what you ate, that you couldn’t eat certain foods that had carbs, that you could only eat quarter portions, have you ever stopped eating because you were convinced that was the answer to feeling prettier?

Have you ever thrown up? Stuck your finger down your throat time and time again, until nothing would come up? Have you done this and thought you felt better because of it? Have you ever done this and cried, because you felt trapped by what someone else thought was “pretty”? 

As a girl in today’s society, I, like most other girls, have experienced the feeling of unworthiness that comes with the feelings of not being pretty enough, smart enough, skinny enough…the list goes on. And why do I feel this way sometimes? Because I watch movies where instead of embracing fully figured females, they are usually the ridiculed character. I open the magazine that comes in the mail every month, and read countless tips on how to lose weight, how to get better hair, better skin, how to put on make up in the newest “sexiest” way. And I feel like I’m not good enough. Because I’m not as pretty as any of those girls. I feel like I don’t have the charm that they have, or their fast metabolisms, and that somehow, I’m going to end up in a gutter because they have the good looks the world wants and I don’t.

“But then I remember he who created me”.

God made me in his image, in his own, perfect image. And that means that I’m perfect the way that I am. I don’t have to wear a pound of make up, or starve myself or wear my hair in the latest style, because I’m already beautiful. I’ve learned that if you have confidence and believe in yourself, you’re already ten times prettier than the girl who doesn’t. 

You don’t have to feel guilty about eating, or feel fat, unworthy or like you’re not pretty just because you don’t look like the girls the media likes to exploit. Because God made everyone of all shapes and sizes, and that’s beautiful. You’re beautiful. Without us, without the people that look normal, the world would be a horribly boring place to live. 

So don’t succumb to the “I’m not good enough” monster. Because it’s a liar. 

Just FYI: You look fine.