Here I go sounding cliché but you really are most beautiful when you are being yourself.

When we idolize people, it is often because of qualities that we feel that we are lacking. We look down on ourselves for what we think if lacking. Our attention is turned toward something that we perceive as negative and sometimes the awful green monster of jealousy comes to the surface.

If we took that outlook and casted it toward the attributes that we do have, saw the quality that we provide to those around us and embraced all of our own wonderful quirks that positive energy has the power to be infectious.

This task seems so simple: pay attention to the good things, not the bad things. We as humans seem to be conditioned to compare ourselves to others, to wonder why we aren’t as slender, tall or beautiful as someone else. We assume that their life is better because of their strengths but forget how our own strengths better our own lives. A tall person can reach the top shelf of a cupboard, but being short means that my feet never hang off the end of my bed.

One thing that I know, even if we have never met is that you are beautiful. There are a million ways to be beautiful and you are your own beauty. The sooner you realize and accept that, the better life will be.

If you can stop comparing yourself, doubting yourself and just embrace who you are the better you will sleep, the better you will enjoy life and the better you will feel both physically and mentally. The negativity towards ourselves bogs us down and eventually starts to feel normal. Imagine how lifted you would feel without that extra weight on your shoulders that you have managed to put there yourself.

Everyone is on their own journey and will have different ways of finding that mentality, but I assure you that once you get there it is worth every challenge it took to get there. Sometimes you need some help to figure things out. Picture what happens when you tell someone that you love their smile or their heart you can physically see their thought process change. For a moment they are thinking highly of themselves. They grow a little bit taller, their shoulder’s relax and their smile grows even bigger. They are often already aware of these things but they’ve forgotten. The same goes for everyone. It’s just harder to see our own reactions from a first person perspective.

When you yourself receive those compliments, hold onto them; write them down if you have to. Then look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself these things. Tell yourself something that you are proud of yourself for that you did that day. Sit there and soak it in. Believe in yourself, your choices, your appearance and your goals.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and your own eyes are the most important ones.