I Woke Up Like This

So many girls, and guys too, measure themselves by the number of likes they get on their Insta pic or how many favorites and retweets they get on their twitter selfie. This is something that I too have struggled with for the longest time. I felt that because another girl got more likes, that she was prettier than me and better than me. I felt that I couldn't measure up to her and I compared myself to her. But this kind of thinking is so wrong and needs to be changed in our society.

Magazines and social media such as Instagram portray such a false vision of girls. What many girls fail to realize is that these models are wearing an unbelievable amount of makeup, and on top of that, these photos are photoshopped and edited. The image that we see is not real. We all edit our pictures and try out many filters before we decide that it is "Insta worthy". Above is a picture of me right after I took off my makeup to go to bed. It is not edited in any way and has no filter on it. It shows me completely fresh faced and all my little imperfections.

I've struggled for most of my life with learning to love and accept myself for the way that I look. I wouldn't even leave my bedroom without putting on a face of makeup, simply because I thought without it, I was ugly. I would hardly ever go in front of my own family without at least a touch of makeup, they hardly would see me fresh faced. Fortunately, in time I overcame this, and I now often walk across campus completely makeup free and I love it. I was so scared that someone would point out the little red dots on my face aka pimples- which NEWS FLASH! every teenager gets!!!- or say that I did not look good. I eventually learned that if someone really cared about little things like the zits on my face as opposed to me as a person, they are not someone I wanted or needed in my life. True friends will love you for who you are, not what you look like. A real friend won't care if you wear a face full of makeup or if you'd rather be fresh faced.

Learning to love and accept myself the way that I am, with or without makeup, has honestly been one of the most freeing things. I absolutely love being able to walk to classes fresh faced not paying any attention to if people are secretly judging the big pimple in the middle of my forehead. Whether you decide to wear makeup every day of your life, or if you like to be makeup free, do whatever makes you feel comfortable, but know that you are beautiful either way!