Are you going to let them?(You are beautiful)

You would not believe the countless hours
That I’ve spent, that I’ve wasted
Standing in front of a mirror
Just trying to hold onto an image of me
That I didn’t cringe away from
I was always desperately trying
To make myself feel good about how I looked
Some days were good. Others were bad.
But over the years
Of useless worrying about what I was wearing
Or how my hair looked
Or if I looked fat
Of thinking that I was too ugly to go to school
All the ridicule I received from people who didn’t understand
I finally realized something.
It didn’t really matter whether I was ugly or beautiful
What I looked like didn’t make me who I was
What made me who I am was what was important to me
That doesn’t mean thinking my face was too fat
Made me who I was
It meant that my personality, who I was beneath the skin
Was what really made me who I was
Who I am
Every decision that I made, every thought I’d ever had
Every moment that I had experienced all shaped me
Those were the important things.
Believing that being a certain size, a certain height
Having a certain face, or being a specific weight
Means that you haven’t yet seen the world
For what it really is.
It’s a matter of learning what is important
And learning to grow up and move on
There are always going to be people who want to bring you down
They’ll push you down
And sometimes you’ll fall
But that’s okay
Because the natural response is to fall
When you’re being pushed down
It’s okay to fall
But it’s what you do after you’re on the ground
That really counts
Are you going to let them keep you on the ground?
Are you going to let them win?
Are you going to let them twist your mind to see what they want you to see?
Are you going to waste countless hours worrying over something you shouldn’t worry about?
Are you going to give them the power to break you?
Or are you going to believe what’s really the truth
That as long as you are you, strong and unwavering
You are Beautiful.