See, society has taught us that everyone is beautiful in their own way

You know, except the ones with no thigh gaps and no chiseled cheeks

The ones who don’t have collar bones or a flat tummy

We’re supposed to be role models to young people, to others

But how do we do that if we aren’t even a model to ourselves?

We see the beauty in people, but we deny the beauty within us

Self hate from watching TV, looking at magazines, scrolling through your phone

Hate because you don’t look a certain way, aren’t as pretty as the ‘other girls’

Because of course it’s better to look like someone than yourself, as long as they’re ‘pretty’

Right?

You know, the ones with long hair and skinny legs, the ones who can fit in an extra small shirt,

the ones with the perfect straight teeth, the ones who don’t put too much makeup on

Because the amount of makeup also determines your self worth

Oh and makeup is false advertisement... even though we aren’t products to be sold

But what is beauty?

Look I’d like to live in my bubble, believe that there’s more to society than there is

That there’s more to defining everything based on looks

That there will come a day where our body shapes won’t be compared to fruits or numbers,

Pears, apples and size 0s, sounds just like something you’d sell in your local store

But maybe that’s what we are being taught

That our bodies, even though we are made of memories, are simply nothing but objects

Objects labeled and sold for customers

Because sure you hear all the sweet stories of love at first sight

But you never hear a story of love at first laugh

You never hear the story of the guy falling for the girl who has ridiculous dreams

Or the girl who falls for the guy’s ability to pull out the silliest magic tricks

Wake up.

You don’t hear these stories, simply because they don’t exist

See those stories are only concepts and ideas and a part of our dreams

But why? Why can’t they be reality?

Because no matter how much fire is in your soul,

Nobody wants to love someone who’s ‘ugly’.

See what I don’t get and what frustrates me is the extent of things people go through

The things they do to try to ‘fit in’, to be a part of this never ending cycle of false expectations,

False hope

False image

Starving yourself until you fit in those size 0 jeans? That’s not the right path to go.

People become addicts, addicted to the idea of counting calories for the fear

Fear of not reaching their ‘goal’

Society has taught us that the mirror is a true reflection of ourselves,

But we forget that it cannot mirror the love we get and give to others

As I’ve grown old, I realised that it’s stupid

Stupid to think that there’s a certain type of beauty and that there’s only one

Because everyone is unique

And I know you've heard that so many times

But it's true

You never look at a bunch of flowers and say

That’s the wrong colour, that one’s too big, that one doesn’t look like the other one

Because they’re all different, just like us

Just like our bodies

And maybe, just like flowers, we have to learn to grow ourselves

We must surround ourselves with positivity

Far from the conditioned thoughts on how beauty should be

Because if society said anything hypocritical but true?

It’s that we are all beautiful

And we should love the bodies we live in.