To My Younger Self: Six Body Insecurities That I Now Love

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on today’s beauty standards. It seems like celebrities are starting to morph into one another with matching strong jawlines, small noses, big lips, and cheekbones that could cut glass. From models to actresses to reality stars, the same standard of beauty seems to be repeatedly stamped on faces. Women appear to be making permanent and semi-permanent changes to their bodies and faces at increasingly younger ages, and photo editing and extremely unrealistic beauty ideals aren’t helping. Growing up, I remember those moments of wanting to look like everyone else. I can recall wanting to blend in and resenting sticking out (even if it could be in a positive way). There’s a survival-mode mentality when you are younger of just trying to fit in. This tends to mean chalking up all that is good or bad about your appearance (I think most of us tend to linger on the bad more so than the good unfortunately).

I started thinking about the insecurities that I felt about my appearance when I was younger. The funny thing is, I discovered that almost all of the things that I would have wanted to change about my body are features that I now value. Listen, that’s not to say that there aren’t things that I notice that I’m less-than-thrilled about, or times when I have to begrudgingly accept that the 30s sure are different than the 20s…