Once there was a girl named Maia.
When Maia was nine years old, she thought she was the definition of disgusting and repulsive. Everyday she wore a fur line jacket, and had her hair tied up in a pony tail. She never showed a lot of her skin and hid her eyes with her frizzy bangs. Because she was ashamed; ashamed of her body and her weight. Ashamed of her hair and her face. Maia never liked her smile, and always had a reason to hide it.

See, Maia liked this boy who was way out of her league. Everything about him was beautiful; his smile, his eyes, his weight– all different from hers. That was the reason she liked him in the first place. He had everything that Maia felt she couldn’t obtain from her own life. Yet, he went for someone who was just like him, and in Maia’s eyes, she was beautiful also. Maia used to cry and ask God why couldn’t she be beautiful with straight hair, colored eyes, and most of all skinny.
Maia saw that boy again and he wasn’t looking so good, but during this time Maia was still ignorant about what true beauty really was.
Maia was tainted by what society wanted her to be, and she couldn’t meet those expectations. No matter how hard she tried it was never enough. She wanted to be something she wasn’t and in the end it caused her pain.
Because sometimes revealing who you truly are in a sea of people want nothing more, than to be accepted for something they are not can be dangerous. Maia only had two options: she would either lose herself being someone she was not, or fight everyday trying to hold on to who she was.
In the end, she chose the second option, and even now she is still fighting the same fight. But now she knows who is going to come out victorious, and that is a promise.
Because now Maia feels no need to be skinny she’d rather embrace her hour glass, and flaunt the curls given to her.
When she complains about her eyes, she remembers her mothers words, “You know why God gave you brown eyes? Because they are all the colors in the world mixed together.”
Now Maia wants to smile in hopes her smile can continue to be exactly as it was meant to be.
For all the girls who have felt this way, remember who you are. We are not only humans; we are goddesses born brave, and beautiful to be who we are. Whenever it’s time to get up in the morning, go find a mirror, and smile for your courage to continue to be your gorgeous self. So whether you’re a size 4 or 16 to 23 it doesn’t matter whether you’re short, tall, have straight hair, curly hair, or colored hair. As long as you can smile, and as long as you’re happy being the beautiful person you are.