Filters. We all use them.

I'm guilty of it myself.

Lenses “don't capture us fully,” we argue, staring at a raw picture of ourselves.

Tears start to form in our eyes as our beauty is distorted by our minds.

Even when our friends protest that we're beautiful, we don't believe them.

Real beauty, we think, must be on the outside. That's what everyone wants, it seems.

So we take a deep breath, angle the camera again, slap on a filter, and post it.

 

Hiding is never the answer, they say. But they don't understand how difficult a world we live in.

I don't think my true self is beautiful, we say, one voice for all the hurt in our generation.

Daring to be beautiful without all the angles and add-ons is just too much.

Even if I thought I was beautiful with all of those things, it's not enough.

 

The truth is, we have a crisis on our hands. Beauty being fake is starting to haunt us.

Hearts are breaking by the way we've defined beauty; it's not who you are, it's your looks.

Early in their lives, we girls are subtly, powerfully taught that we're beautiful when we're fake.

 

Real beauty comes from the inside, they all post. Once we've internalized the fake, it's too late.

Eventually, we're too entangled in the web of make-up and filters and lies to realize our worth.

All the effort you put in is worth little when you feel just as ugly as you did before.

Loving yourself feels like singlehandedly winning a war- impossible.

 

You and I, we share the same struggle. We both want to be beautiful, but we can't see how.

On the outside, beauty will come and go, but the real you is there.

Underneath all the make-up and filters, you're worthy, you're loved, you're beautiful. So am I.