A few months back as I was flipping through channels on my television looking for something good to watch, I fell upon the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. After watching for a few minutes, I began to feel discomfort, not because of what I was watching, but because of the message being portrayed to me. In today’s world, the media portrays a female’s body as an object of desire, rather than an object of natural beauty.

As females, we are indirectly told that if we do not look like a model or have a small stomach, we are not beautiful. But I am here to tell you that the beauty standards and expectations this world puts on you do not define you.

Lately, in the news and other media outlets, beauty standards have become a subject talked about everyday As girls, we are shown Victoria’s Secret models with unattainable figures and we are expected to look like them to be considered beautiful. Yet, as I have grown older, I have realized that beauty on the outside is not what defines you, the beauty you have on the inside does.

With so much emphasis being placed on what we as girls look like on the outside it is hard to remember those things that really matter. Things like having a kind heart and being a good person often do not come to mind when someone is asked what makes them beautiful. However, these are the things that should matter the most, because at the end of the day, outer beauty fades. To the people reading this, you are beautiful no matter what you look like on the outside.

I know sometimes that fact is hard to believe because I have been there. But struggling to find the perfect dress, the perfect makeup and the perfect workout can be tiring and these things do not really matter anyways. In high school, girls are told they have to look a certain way for guys to like them or to be popular and this is where the confusion of beauty standards hide. You will find friends who love you for who you are on the inside, and if a boy likes you just because you have abs or a pretty face, that relationship will not last for long. I think in today’s world it is so hard to feel beautiful and that is okay because there are so many other things we should want to be.

For me, I would rather be funny, kind, smart and genuine because those things will define me far longer than my hair color and how much I weigh. The world puts standards and expectations on you but you do not have to listen, you can make your own standards and be your own kind of beautiful.