We are all beautiful.

You know that very depressing moment when you see yourself in photographs and think WHAT THE !*%#?
Or when your mum tells you that you need to start buying your clothing a size (or two!) bigger, and especially when someone who you haven't seen in a while comments on how much weight you've put on or about how nice and round your butt has gotten since they last saw you.
I hate that! I hate that we never come to this realisation on our own and that someone always has to point it out.
Now I had one of those life-defining moments where I stepped onto the scale recently and realised that I am 13 kilos more than what I was 4 years ago. Might sound normal and acceptable, but not when you've just turned 21 and the world is your oyster. Weight should be the last thing you have to worry about at this age.
But yes, I've had that realisation and thought to myself- what now?
What do I do about it?

So I naturally began discussing my 'weight issues' with friends, family and even strangers (which I’m sure was very annoying to all of them) and at breakfast in a nice hotel one morning, amidst my usual complaints, A friend and I decided to point out who we thought was big, curvaceous, acceptable, hot. Naturally we got into a friendly disagreement about how 'this' one's SO not fat and how 'that' one is totally 'acceptable'.

It was all in good spirit but then came the serious stuff. I was given good advice that day. All I did was complain about my weight and about how fat I looked. It was annoying to everyone around me including my friend so she just told me, "Look, if you think that there is a problem with your weight then fix it. There’s no point in complaining or asking anyone’s opinion because you already made your mind up about yourself.

What she said was so simple but yet, deafening to my ears. I was always obsessing about losing weight and so fixed on comparing myself to what I saw around me, that I made myself unhappy.

It’s so easy to complain about things that are so trivial and shallow; we’re all guilty of it. But sometimes we just need to stop and realize that we’re blessed more than we know. Everyone is beautiful in every way. We just need to find that inner peace, accept who we are and love ourselves like we love one another.