We are our own worst critics. We look in the mirror and have a tendency to point out all the negative things about our reflection instead of the positives.

“My thighs are so big.”

“My ears are way too little.”

“I hate how frizzy my hair is.”

It’s a known fact that girls see themselves much differently than other people do. We have a warped sense of what we look like. “Over the course of our lives, experts said, our sense of self-image develops through a complicated interplay between cultural ideals, life experiences and accumulated comments by others. The result is, inevitably, a distortion of reality” (Discovery News).

We look at pictures of ourselves or stand in front of the mirror and are trained to see what we think we see. Our perceptions of ourselves aren’t the physical problems; it’s the mental and emotional ones. Whether it be having been teased as a child for being “chubby”, or being overly self-conscious in high school because “no guys want to date you”, we constantly worry about our appearance because we think that’s what will make us “good enough.”

This isn’t true. This is the wrong reality. The way we see ourselves is not the way other people see us. We may think our arms are really flabby, but that most likely isn’t even a noticeable thing to somebody else.

So, the next time somebody tells you, “you look really pretty today,” or “I love your hair,” or “that bathing suit looks really good on you,” believe them. Believe them because they are telling you the truth; they wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true.

We can’t get caught up in the mentality that so many things are wrong with our bodies. Our emotions have a way of over-exaggerating things that aren’t actually real.

Remember, you are more beautiful than you think.

And for a little reassurance, watch this video.

http://hellogiggles.com/sketches-show-how-we-see-ourselves-vs-how-strangers-do/