All through elementary school, you get told about how you should see yourself as beautiful and wonderful. At that time in life, it’s easy to. You’re in betwen the ages of five and eleven and life is all fun and games. Don’t think I’m shaming kids for having fun. I’m not. They deserve to have all the fun thay can have before middle school and high school hit. After fifth grade, self image blurs until it disappears completely and comes back as doubt and despair.

It’s hard growing up with other students around you at school who are confident about how they look. They are skinny. Their skin is clear. They are athletic. And smart. These thoughts come rushing in and no one can stop them before it’s too late and it’s all you can think about. These thoughts consume you and cloud you from reality. The reality that is so close you can feel it, but can’t qute grasp it. This reality is startling t young minds. It’s that those sudents walking around in the hallway, have those same thoughts coursing through their heads about you and other students. Some kids don’t know this, but a lot do know about this reality, but can’t accept it. Teachers and counselor try their hardest to teach about these truths to help students create their self image a more beautiful picture, but they just aren’t getting through to everyone. Yes, we know we shouldn’t see ourselves as dumb and ugly, but we can’t just stop thinking that after a few lessons with the counselor. We have to have the will to want to look view the world differently.

First step to accepting yourself as a smart and wonderful person is to stop allowing bad ifluences, that float around our world like paper in the wind, shift our visin from reality to fake. Reality T.V. shows show us how to live a fake life. Beauty magazines show us unatural beauty. Even Snapchat is influencing our minds to hide ourselves. Their filters may be fun and cute, but they cause us to ide ourselves from the world because we’ve grown up thinking we’re not good eugh for the world to see. Everyone else is, but not yourself. I’m not saying you have to stop watching T.V. Or stop reading beauty magazines. Or not use Snapchat filters. All I’m tryng to say is that you shouldn’t use those to hide behind. They’re fun things and are apart of our world, but you don’t have to believe in everything they represent. Be your own person and look at yourself for who you truly are. After this, it gets easier. That’s the hard part. Accepting reality. After that, your next job is to use that knowledge and spread it to other teens. Teens will be more willing to listen to it if it comes from people their own age. So stop labeling yourself as unworthy, accept your image as it is, and spread the word like a dandelion in the wind.