I'm Worth It.

In the last few years, I've struggled with an issue that so many people struggle with: self-worth.

My story is not an original one. It's not even a particularly inspiring or heart-felt one. Everyone in my family weighed less than 100 lbs, and I weighed more. My mother was constantly dieting, my sisters were eating whatever they wanted and not gaining any weight, and I was eating cookie dough all the time.

The sad part is that there were many more people out there who had it worse, which only made me feel more unworthy. It's not like I was struggling with my weight. I wasn't overweight. Most people didn't even know I was having a hard time with my body image. I, however, was having the same mindset that so many people do. I was thinking that if only I could lose ten pounds, I'd be happy. If only I had a boyfriend, I'd be happy. If only I could fit into a size 2, I'd be happy.

If only, if only, if only.

Longing for something doesn't make it happen. Longing for something only makes you sad and disappointed.

After longing so long for the kind of life my sisters had (a skinny life), I heard a saying that really struck me.

If you're not happy with yourself in the present, you won't be happy with yourself in the future. 

This might take a bit of explaining. I'm all for wanting to be better and changing bad habits. But, in this context, being happy with yourself has less to do with unhealthy habits and everything to do with self-worth. If you don't think you're worth anything when you're fat, that's not gonna change if you get skinny. If you don't think you're worth anything when you're single, that's not gonna change when you get a boyfriend. If you don't think you're worth anything now, and you continue thinking about the future instead of the present, your perspective won't change.

You deserve happiness. Everyone deserves happiness. It's ok to want to be better, as long as you know that you are worth everything to somebody. You are.

It took me a long time to figure that out. Once I truly realized that my family and friends love me for me, I decided that I wanted to be healthy. I had motivation to be better.

Honestly, the way to be healthy starts in your head. So, you. Start now. Look at yourself in the mirror every single day and say these words:

I'm worth it. I. Am. Worth. It.

I don't even know you. But I know that no matter how far gone you are, no matter how lost you think you've become, no matter how overweight or lazy or lonely or unhappy you think you are, you're worth it. A loving heart has no physical form.

I believe in you.