Dear Society,
Your unrealistic standards are set much too high. The pressure that you put on young girls to live up to these standards is a burden that has weighed on my soul before, and continues to cripple those who are trying to measure up.
Every flaw in the mirror, every imperfection makes the burden heavier. My knees grow weak and your strength gives. Buried under the weight. The weight of insecurity, the weight of jealousy. The longing to look like the faces in the magazines. The desire to fit in and be loved by everyone. The hunger for attention. It’s tiring, carrying this heavy load, all day every day. You tell me to go to desperate measures to make sure I look like I have it all together.
You tell me that I should be this way.
I should act this way, I should look this way. At the end of the day, when I look in the mirror and I think about who I am, I would be lieing if I said that I even begin to compare to your poster children of beauty that cover the billboards and magazines, their flaws forgotten after they were photoshopped. I could never measure up to all of the things you say I should be.
For the longest time, I believed your lies. I believed that I was not good enough, because I didn’t look like whoever was strutting down the red carpet that week. I believed you when you whispered to me that I was inadequate because I wasn’t as talented or popular as other girls in my school.
But I don’t believe your lies anymore.
That weight that was burying me was lifted off my shoulders the day that I shut out the insecure thoughts you provoked and the things you made me believe by opening up a magazine. I am worth more than that. My value does not come from all the beauty or attention or flawlessness in the world. My value comes from Christ, because He paid the price on the Cross for me. Every thought that ever flashed through my head, telling me I wasn’t worth it, that I wasn’t good enough, was nailed to the Cross with Christ.
You don’t control me anymore. My identity is found in my Savior and making His name known, not hiding behind makeup and trying to measure up to your standards. You don’t control me anymore.
If you’re a teenager like me and struggling under the weight of insecurity, quit trying to measure up to the unrealistic expectations of society. Let it go!
You are worth more than that!
Dear Anonymous,
Thank you for your precious teenager-soul! I’m so thankful that you “get it” as a teen. There are many of us as women who still struggle today! There is always someone telling us who we should be, how we should act, and how we should look. Thanks for this awesome reminder that “they” the society doesn’t matter. Our Father fearfully and wonderfully made us! Amen.
Dear Reader,
Do you struggle with the insecurities of what others think of you? Do you try to measure up? Today put your eyes on God and measure up to His concerns. He loves you. He thinks you’re beautiful just the way He made you. You are marvelously made! (Psalm 51 MSG)
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