BElieve in YOUrself

This is a short story about a teenage girl and self confidence with her body image. I hope this story can help everyone who reads it.

Believe in

Yourself

Our reflections hurt.

Painful stabs in her self-esteem bring it to an all-time low.  Her stomach bulges, and she feels as if she has let herself down.

 She is young, beautiful, and kind. If only she could lose the weight, at least ten pounds to start with; twenty pounds eventually. Then she could be pretty again.

At least she would believe that she was pretty again.

Staring, scrutinizing herself in the mirror. All her friends have flat stomachs. She doesn’t. She tries to work out every day. She tries and tries but nothing seems to work.

Ever.

She hates herself, so she shoves her pebble colored baggy sweatshirt over the bulge that is her belly, attempting to forget that she is not pretty like most teenage girls.

 Walking out of her room she remembers an important little detail in her day. She has to go to school.

School- The place she loves. Libraries, learning, unlimited opportunities, and a constant reminder of the unquestionable number of girls that are better than her,  all girls that can step away from the chocolate like it’s their second nature. Something that she has struggled to do for far too long.

Stepping out the door and avoiding people so that no one will notice her skipping breakfast.

 But the only thing she craves is excess amounts of food. Its ok, she tells herself. There was nothing healthy to eat anyway.

 The ride to school takes forever and she is not particularly eager to be reminded that she has no self-control unlike all her friends.

 She is a failure.

There is more than one thing weighing on her mind as she passes countless couples in the halls. But she is not worthy comparatively.

 At least that’s what she tells herself. Closing her locker an unforgettable face lays behind it waiting.

“Hey there.” He says charming as always.

“Hi.” She answers in a small voice. Pulling the sweater down to cover as many imperfections as possible. But he picks up on the movement.

“What are you doing?” He asks

“What do you mean.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I don’t know just a habit by now, I guess.” She says shyly wondering why in the world he would take one second out of his day to talk to a shy fat girl.

“It’s not a very good habit.” He stated.

“Excuse me?” she said temper rising.

“Because why would you want to cover up something so beautiful and perfect?”

She stood there speechless.

He touched her chin ever so slightly as to raise her head. A clear sign of how she viewed herself. Her posture lifted following the path of her head, and he walked away.

She was dazed going into class, and the next class, and the next one. she just couldn’t get it out of her head that somebody could see her like she was one of the flat-stomached flawless girls that surrounded her.

 But he didn’t seem to see them. No, he only saw her beauty. Her unquenchable beauty.

Going home that day she had a new way of seeing things. A new way of seeing herself.

 Instead of hating every reflection, she embraced every sight of herself. Whether it be in the mirror or the window pane in a shopping mall.

 She saw herself not in a good light with rose colored glasses. But in the light of something much, much better.

Reality.

The next morning, she did not skip breakfast, she limited herself to a small amount of chocolate instead of none or way too much. She loved the person that starred back in the morning right before she left for school. So, she didn’t wear the over-sized sweaters to cover up insecurities.

 She accepted them.

She always had the potential for accepting herself. she was just stuck in her self-consciousness and he pulled the confidence right out of her. But it was there all the while.

Each day one small step was taken. The next day she put on a tiger colored, curve hugging, tank top with a lace up front. It was her. Not her low self-esteem. But it signified her personality. Fun, confident, smart, bubbly, and sexy.

She walked down those halls head held high. Let me just say heads turned and they kept turning. It wasn’t that nobody thought she wasn’t good enough this entire time. It’s that she kept herself hidden and reserved.

Could she lose any weight? Yes. Did that insinuate she was ugly or unworthy of anything? No.

 

 

Over time her love for wanting to be healthy took over and she did not want a flat stomach or perfect body.

 She only wanted a healthy lifestyle and with being healthy came her reward of a flat belly and wonderful body. But not because she skipped meals, but because she allowed herself to be loved and nourished in all the right ways.

Even though she did get that flat tummy, it was not her true reward.

 Her real reward was the ability for total self-love and acceptance on the deepest level within.

 Her confidence grew every day. It grew into the diamond it is, perfect, shining, and unbreakable. Nothing can bring her down she’s unstoppable.

 

Be your own kind of beautiful.

Reviews

[the_gak]

It's a good story, and the storytelling was elegant. There were no grammatical errors, which is impressive considering the fact that this is your first short story.
The narration was a bit repetitive in the middle. Also, check your writing once for capitalization errors.
Finally, try combining sentences. For instance, "School. The place she loved." can be written as "School - the place she loved". Too many periods in your story might make it sound a bit long and boring.
Other than these, your story was marvelous. Keep up the effort, and keep practising regularly. I'm looking forward to read more of your work soon.

[Xuru]

I don't see anything particularly noteworthy, but I will always endorse positive messages.

Well done.

[Tbear]

Well done Adalaide.. a story that will be easily understood..is just the right length and has a perfect message for those with no self esteem. As mentioned by Katherine..fix the formatting and indentation..also 'starring' should be staring..i had to read those lines a couple of times..other than that..good job! I hope to see more of your writing..

[Kathrine Rethorn]

I really like the message that this send. Its relatable and sweet. You have several really good descriptions.

Watch out on format, indent and such when making a new paragraph. Maybe watch for repetition if your diction. That comes with experience though, aside from those i enjoyed this read.

[A.R. Murray]

There are some capitalization errors.

This is a problem in society. Society makes girls think they have to look a certain way in order to be considered beautiful. I think this being written can maybe encourage girl to love themselves. Something written that people can relate to is wonderful.

Great job on this, I enjoyed this.

[Joey Nizz]

Beautiful, this is a wonderful story of a girl wanting to be beautiful from the out when her real beauty was only from in.

Well wrote. and thanks for making read this, this is also an awareness story for those who are struggling with the same choices.