I think part of the reason why it’s so hard for a girl to learn to love herself is because there is this picture painted of how it’s supposed to be. You read all of these posts on Tumblr and Instagram telling you to love yourself but what they don’t tell you, is that that is not how it works. You don’t just wake up one day and decide to stop hating yourself after years and years of pure self-hatred. That’s not how it works. It takes time and it takes effort. They don’t tell you that you will wake up one day feeling pretty okay and then wake up the other hating every little thing that is you. It’s not as simple as just liking you. At first it will feel weird because it's new and you won’t know how to be comfortable with it, but you need to know that It starts off with liking how your eyebrows look one day, and thinking of how weirdly pretty your ankles might appear with those sandals , then noticing how nice the curve of your back is. Later you’ll see you have really cute freckles and your legs might not be super slim but you have a great ass and you can twerk like hell. It’s not just a done deal, you have to start with the little things. You have to first not hate yourself as much, and then be okay with you, then finally start liking yourself and after long hard attempts you will get to the point where you can say, wow, I really love me. Everything about me, I am flawed. I am not perfect, I have a pudge and my thighs touch but I am inspiring and I am important. I am wanted. I am iridescent. Take this from a girl who used to barf her lunch to fit into clothes at the mall. Take this from the girl who took laxatives "just a couple times" to not feel like a whale. Take this from the girl who was rarely seen in pictures because she “wasn’t photogenic and she looked fat”. Take it from me.