What does it mean to love yourself
when all you’ve been taught is to hate
every scar, every pimple, every mark
like your body is a botched painting of no value?

What does it mean to be yourself
when the world is constantly telling you to change
your lips, your breasts, your hips
like you’re a broken machine that needs to be fixed?

What does it mean to take up space
when all you know is how to shrink
your arms, your waist, your thighs
like you’re a candle, burning up to be someone else’s light?

What does it mean to smile at the mirror
when your perception’s warped by impossible standards
that deem you ugly, imperfect, worthless
like you’re a thing to be sold in the market, to be used and discarded?

Why are we taught to lick knives to feel loved
when we can feed ourselves kindness on a silver plate?
Why are we taught to run into someone else’s arms
when we can hold ourselves on every bad day?

We carve strangers’ words onto our skin
like tattoos to be flaunted while hiding away
everything that we are from within.

We listen to a thousand cruel voices until they become our own.
They replay in our heads, a broken record stuck on a single note.

We play all the perfect roles
until the world’s cruelty seeps into our bones
and before we know it, we are just puppets
dancing to someone else’s tunes.

We long to be loved while forgetting we are enough.
It’s a tragedy that we need someone else’s approval to be happy.
Why can’t we find our voice
and scream over all the noise?
Why can’t we stand up against society’s rules
that tell us how much weight to lose?
Why can’t we just choose ourselves over everyone else
and walk away from everything that causes us pain?

Life’s too short to be wasted hiding away
and being ashamed of what people will say.
So, wear that dress and twirl around.
Let yourself feel beautiful even when it feels like a lie
for confidence is a plant that grows the more you water it.

Rip apart those magazines,
block the ‘health’ influencer telling you not to eat,
abandon your 10-step skincare routine and just breathe.
Skip that ad about plastic surgery and let yourself be
messy, imperfect, human
for chasing ideals is a futile exercise
and you are bound to get tired running after it your whole life.

Flaunt your freckles and your curves, your wrinkles and your moles
Let yourself live freely, for you are whole just the way you are.
Wear your smile like an armour against every judgemental remark
and let yourself be the love interest of your own story
for you deserve all the love that you give out so freely.

So repeat after me when I say,
“I will love myself as I am from this very day
and others’ words will never make me doubt my worth
for I am enough in every way.”

Cover Image: Photo by Dan Farrell on Unsplash