“To the girl who is quiet: one day, you will find your words and never run out of them.
To the girl who is young: one day, you will grow wiser.
To the girl who struggles to feel the same as everyone else: one day, you will love the h— out of yourself.
To the girl who walks alone: one day, you will know that alone was all you ever needed.
Just bare with me and hang tight. You won’t always feel this way. You won’t always look at supermodels and think you fall short because you may not look like them. In fact, you may even meet a partner one day who makes you feel like a supermodel, just as you are. When you cross paths with those individuals, thank them, for they will show you that you’re equal.
You may also meet a lot of wrong partners who give you conditions: lose weight and I’ll be more attracted to you, or get bigger boobs and you will be hotter. When you cross paths with them, thank them, for they will show you everything you will never need.
You may take in a lot of criticisms and cruel jokes about your weight from family, friends, and those partners I mentioned. It’s going to sting. The pain may even silence you at the time, but hear me loud and clear: you will grow stronger, and one day, you won’t stand for the mistreatment.
You will know your worth so well you won’t tolerate certain things. You will grow strong in who you are and that will be enough to show people how to talk to you.
You will find no issues in cutting your circle. When you’re young, it may be large. When you get older, you will value the quality of a few over a slew of people who just don’t bring out the best in you.
On the contrary, your circle may be invisible right now, but stay the course as you will find the right people. Their values will align with yours. They will know their own worth, and by knowing their own worth, they will know yours.
But while you look to find those people, know you will be all you will ever need. You will get yourself through this life and through all the hardness that makes it what it is. You can lose everyone and as long as you never lose yourself; you’ll breathe.
You will learn to like yourself enough that you won’t tolerate projection. You will know their demons were never your demons and they just needed to give them away.
The judgement, the ridicule, and the jealousy were all how they fell short and decided to make it your burden. It was never yours. And one day, you will learn how to shed it along with every insecurity you’ve ever had.
You will learn to stand tall and say: this is me and I’m allowed to take up space here.
You will learn to speak to yourself with nothing but love. You will learn that you set the standard. You will learn your body is no longer up for discussion. And neither are all the other things you choose not to share.
You will learn the negative words made popular in your youth will be the words you turn positive and beautiful in your womanhood. You will learn you run this game, all the s— you used to take will no longer have a place in your world.
So while you’re shedding tears and collecting insecurities, know it won’t last forever. Time is on your side. Time makes you bolder and harder. One day, you will shed the pain and collect a strength that makes you army strong, except you won’t need an army or a tribe, you will just need you. And YOU will be remarkable.”
This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Felicia Naoum of Parma, Ohio, and originally appeared here. You can follow her journey on Facebook. Submit your own story here, and be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories, and YouTube for our best videos.
Read more from Felicia here:
Life Will Not Be Better If You Could Just Become A Different Size
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