Happy with the Skin You're In

If somebody told you that you had to freedom to do whatever you wanted to make yourself happy being you, would you? As a girl growing up in a convicting society, I never felt all that comfortable in my own skin and from listening to friends, other bloggers, campaigns, girls (and guys, I'm not ruling you out!) I know that this isn't uncommon. Lately that's started to change for me and on a selfish whim I'd like to write about it, maybe inspiring others who still don't feel comfortable in themselves to realise that it's okay, and start to feel at ease. 

I could elaborate on how I didn't accept myself a lot more but I'll keep that on the down low, and tell you how I've noticed and spurred a slow change in this cocoon of a mind and body I've been living in. It noticeably clicked with me when I chopped a bunch of my hair off the other day. Now that all sounds very dramatic! It was cut professionally but I've had a 'fear' of having my hair cut shorter for as long as I can remember. It may have just been the breeze on my face but I felt lifted and a little more free, sort of like the feeling of bumping into someone after a year or two, being wowed by how much of a different person they are- I felt like that!

Yeah yeah, it's only hair, but combatting this fear and realising that I was almost hiding behind my hair, making it a larger part of my persona than it needed to be, whether people saw it as that or not. I had long hair through school, through bad and good times so cutting it felt like cutting a lot of the 'old me' away, shedding a skin, in the best way possible.

Essentially, you can create yourself. Like a Sim! There are an infinite number of possibilities on how you can choose to live your life, who you hang around with and what you let influence you as a person. If you'd feel happiest having bright pink hair and a stick on moustache then do it! If you want to get fit and tone up then do it! If you want that tattoo, then do it. Dismiss the unhealthy standards of society and do you. 

Imagine if all of the time you spent ranking others above you was spent bettering yourself, putting effort into living a life that would let you prosper! Shed the skin that you don't feel comfortable in and treat yourself to a slow recuperation and creation of the person you want to be (but please stay healthy) and enjoy the ride.

Growth is needed for you to become someone based on what makes you happy. If you do this only for yourself, that's when you'll feel comfortable and proud of being yourself, as long as you're not hurting anyone. Then you can start to accept yourself for the forever freckled, short, tall, metal loving, pop loving, gay, straight, hair dye craving, tomato ketchup in the fridge-or-cupboard-putting person that you are. Embrace and create yourself to change and love yourself. See my other post on changes in society and state of mind here.