It’s not rocket science

to love yourself.

I love the acrylics down the 

tips of my fingers, and my gray

crewneck with sporadic stray strings that 

stretched into rips from wearing every night to bed.

I love my bed, I love my sleep, I love my stuffed octopus.

I love an abundance of things, my 

things, but not you. Not just yet…

But you know how to 

love yourself, it's not rocket science, you just need to

change a few things;

it’s all so simple, loving yourself is so simple.

Then why do you remember staring at 

yourself with disgust – and even with nothing 

but the headlights of cars passing

by at 1 a.m. to illuminate your face, 

you could see enough to know you 

didn't – 

couldn't

love yourself. You couldn't love yourself when 

your crush told you that

your hair frizzes and tangles when it's down,

like it has a gravity of its own. Or when 

your friends would joke about 

your vitiligo, comparing your skin to that of a 

spotted cow. Or when 

your brothers teased that your buck teeth 

were set as far apart as the earth to mars. How were you

expected to love yourself 

when others were constantly giving you reasons to not?

But it didn't take rocket science to figure out that you would 

love yourself after you fixed yourself. It's not like you had to 

calculate the velocity of a spotted cow

Traveling from earth to mars

in an unknown gravity.

All you had to do was take the braces off, 

blast your frizz with formaldehyde, 

and spend a fortune on dozens of laser treatments to 

conceal your patches of albino skin.

It didn't take Δv=veln(mo/mf)

to figure out that you would 

love yourself after artificially modifying your

hair and skin. At least that's what you thought –

until fixing those flaws only made the others more apparent.

Now, you need to 

smooth out the tarnished bumps on your cheeks,

which isn't rocket science –

you just have to 

swallow some avocados or fatty seeds,

that's supposed to cure your acne!

But you shouldn't eat the avocado and seeds since 

you also have to 

cut your calories

because remember, your thighs 

chafe against each other as you stride,

which isn't rocket science –

you only have to 

eat less food. But you can’t starve, 

for you have to 

lift hefty weights to build more muscle, 

because remember, your lats

are not wide enough for gym rats to take you seriously,

which isn't rocket science – 

you merely have to 

go to the gym and exercise. But you won't spend over an hour and a half there 

as you need to 

study to change your B’s into A’s,

because remember, your parents

won't be proud if you don't.

Loving yourself is simple on paper, its

not rocket science. Yet I'm sure even rocket scientists 

haven't even figured out 

how to love themselves 

either.