I don’t usually share my personal experience of life because I’m afraid people might think I’m complaining, but, by randomly browsing the “being pretty” tag on tumblr, I’ve seen many girls who are lacking confidence asking “Why can’t I be pretty?” or saying they wish they were pretty, so I decided to share what I hope will be a motivational story.

       I am now, what many people would call pretty, cute and even beautiful sometimes, but a few of them know what I’ve been through to get here. We look at pretty people and get jealous because we wish we could be just like them when in fact, nothing is stopping us. You like some girl’s blond hair? Dye your hair. You like some other girl’s style? Even some clothes bought from a Second Hand store can be pretty, you just have to know HOW to wear them and stop worrying about what people think. You like a girl’s make-up? Practice until your eyes freakin’ burn. You’ll get there in the end. Looking good doesn’t always mean having a perfect body. Your attitude, your hair, your expression, your clothes, they ALL matter.

       I weight 70 kg right now and I’m only 160 cm tall. That means my body is chubby and curvy. Some people might look at me and think I’m fat. But I’ve had 90 kg 4 years ago and I did my best to get them off. Only I know that. No stranger knows it. I’m proud of myself and even if I still want to loose some weight, I’m happy. During middle school I’ve been bullied. Every day for 3 years. They kept calling me names, fat, ugly, pig and laughed at me every time I ate in front of them. They even made people follow me to the bus station and call me names on the way for everyone to hear.

BEFORE(I'm on the right):

       I always answered with violence because back then I didn’t know any better, but it never changed anything. In fact, I don’t think anything I could have done could have changed anything.

       I cried myself to sleep, considered suicide and hated myself the whole time. I changed schools when I begun high school. That was what I needed. A fresh start. I wasn’t prettier, I wasn’t smarter and I wasn’t better-dressed. People just didn’t care that much. Finally finding a quiet place, I started to bloom and reached my full potential.

          But I’m not perfect. I don’t have a perfect skin, blue eyes, natural blonde long and wavy hair and tanned skin(like most girls I see on tumbr). I guess I’m average(the usual and ordinary kind). I have natural brown hair, brown eyes and a pretty good skin, I wouldn’t really stand out. For some reason, though, people look up to me now. They like my hair, my style, my make-up and my bubbly personality, at least this is what I used to think. I just recently thought: they could all look just like me, they’ve got the means, when in fact what they look up to, is the courage I have to be this way. I was one of the first people in my city to wear big black nerd glasses and every day I had to stand people’s rude comments about how stupid I looked. Not long after wearing nerdy glasses became a trend and I was proud to not have given in to peer pressure, because I liked the way I looked. On the other hand, I’ve always been an eccentric.

       I then figured that people’s opinion is highly influenced by our own opinion on ourselves. I know many of you have heard this many times, but you don’t know until you try. Walking around with a grumpy expression on your face won’t attract people’s attention on you, because, hey, everybody’s got their problems. Walking around and smiling to your friends all the time while acting cheerful definitely will.

       Have you ever tried looking into the mirror and ignoring your flaws? Have you ever thought: Hey, I’ve got a pretty nose or, I have very beautiful eyes or full lips? Instead of looking at your flaws, look at your fine points and try highlighting them using make-up. You don’t have to be caked on make-up to be pretty, but just a touch of foundation or some mascara can and will make a noticeable difference.

       As for the rest, don’t like your hairstyle? Change it. Cut your hair, dye it, grow it out. Don’t like your eyes, there are many ways of making them look different by using make-up. In fact, do ANYTHING you need to make yourself feel confident. Wear anything you like as long as you feel confident in it. It took me 4 years(during high school) to get here and become who I really was, but my scars are still there. I am shy and afraid that people will say bad things about me. It still takes me A LOT to try new things and every time I’m around a group of people I feel like they’re laughing at me. These things will probably never change, but I learned to live with it. I forgave my bullies, because if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have worked so hard to loose weight. And if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have tried so hard to become beautiful. Everything I did was to prove myself I could be pretty too. Prove myself they weren't right, I wasn’t ugly. Prove them and myself I was more than a “fat pig”. And I did. Because this year I started university and made lots of friends. By miracle university is everything I imagined. One day I met at the canteen the boy who always bullied me. He hasn’t change a bit - appearance wise - and I was finally able to smile at him. Seeing what I have become was quite a shock to him as he could hardly bring himself to wave back.

       Don’t let bad comments bring you down. Use them as a boost, prove them wrong. But keep in mind that Rome wasn’t built in one day. It’ll take time. And as I read in a post earlier: “You have to be brave to be pretty.” Dream it. Dare to do it.

AFTER(Me and my friend from the first photo 4 years later. I’m the blonde):

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