1. You are you: As clichè as it sounds it's absolutely true. You are always the most beautiful version of yourself when you are being yourself.
2. God made you: God only makes beautiful things and he never makes any mistakes. The Bible evem says that God makes everything beautiful in His time. You are part of that "everything."
3. You are passionate: Have you ever noticed (or maybe it's just me, but whatever) that when a guy is genuinely passionate about something he loves, he becomes 1,000 times more attractive? Well, it's the same for you. It doesn't matter what you're passionate about--poetry, soccer, baking, science, playing an instrument, or watching Doctor Who (this is me!). When you're really passionate about something, your eyes will light up and your countenance will glow and you will be just absolutely breathtaking.
4. You are real: You've probably never had plastic surgery because you didn't like your body, you've probably never crash dieted so you can be underweight enough to qualify as a model, and I doubt you use Auto Tune on a daily basis to change you singing voice. Well, guess what. Congratulations! You're real. You are a real teenage girl. Be proud of that.
5. You are unique: This is probably the hardest one to accept when you're trying so hard to fit in. Unique means "different." Why would ANYONE want to be different?
No, the real question is, "Why would you want to fit in when you were born to stand out?"
You don't have to be the Tumblr Girl, or the Sporty Chick, or the Popular Girl, or the Pageant Queen, or the Cheerleader (I'm not hating on any of these groups, by the way. I was a cheerleader before.).
You can be the girl whose nose is always in a book because you would rather read it than watch the movie that totallyr ruins the story anyway. You can be the girl on the swim team that always wears her hair in a messy bun and never wears makeup because she's in the water so much it would just wash off anyway. You can be the girl with the My Little Pony stickers all over her book bag that the cute little kids that she babysits decorated for her and she wants to show off the good work they did. You can be the girl who answers all of the questions in math class because she studied, even though everyone else calls her a "nerd" or a "miss know-it-all." Who cares? It's better to know something than to know nothing at all. You can be the girl who embraces her naturally curly hair because she likes it instead of straightening it because everyone else likes it.
Just saying, it's okay to be unique. It's not a crime!
I hope this helped you all today. But I do have one more thing to say.
I have a CHALLENGE for you all. If you read this I want you to post a picture on any and every social networking site that you can. Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, whatever.
I want you to post a picture of yourself the the hashtag/caption #IAmBeYOUtiful. If someone asks you what "BeYOUtiful" means, tell them what it means to you. Tell them that it means that you can be unique because it's better than being like everyone else. Tell them that it means that you can wear your hair natural every day because you like it that way. Tell them that it means that being called a "nerd" in class is better then failing the next history quiz. Inspire someone today and let them know that they are beautiful, too. And remember, have fun and make sure you actually believe the hashtag when you post the picture.
Have a lovely weekend, everyone, and happy Fourth of July!
