You Are So Much More

There is something the world is keeping hidden from you; a well-worn secret.

They dress it up and flash it in front of you and pretend like it won't spread virally when it catches the wind like a wildflower seed at the first hint of summer.

It is hidden beneath all the manipulation and airbrushing, beneath the social standards and magazines covers that scream 'you are not good enough.' Here is the essential truth: you are not your body. Your worth is not found in your extremities. You are not your legs, your arms, your stomach, or your breasts.

You are not your flesh or hair or the weight you've gained and lost throughout years of celebration and tragedy. You are not defined by the hardness or softness your body carries and your worth cares little for that freckle you hate or the extra skin you can't seem to get rid of around your hips.

You are not, no matter how much they try to convince you, the size of your outsides. In fact you are the exact opposite: you are the magnitude of all that lives within. Comparisons will get you nowhere and you are exactly where you need to be. You are allowed to shift, evolve, grow, and change your mind a million times.

If someone stifles your growth and tries to compress you into a pretty little box, allow them to keep living small. Allow them to live a life that airs no room for passion or creativity, but do not follow. With all the courage and love you can muster, make today the day you begin living a life strictly dictated by you.

You must allow yourself to fail. It is essential that you give yourself room for imperfection. The people who put everything they have out into the world and disregard failure are often met with the largest success; the success that is initiated from within, the kind that grows from understanding your value and demanding that standard from other people.

You have everything you'll ever need to succeed if you just believe in your ability to make an impact. So, go ahead. Try acknowledging and harnessing your worth and watch the world respond accordingly. (That's a promise, by the way.)

You are not your body. Say it with me until your voice is hoarse and you no longer have to convince yourself of the statements validity. Repeat it over and over again until your eyes become x-rays that illuminate all that lives inside instead of microscopes that magnetize all of your flaws. Say it again and again until you bleed the truth without any effort at all. 

You are not your body. You are so much more.

Written by Morgan Hoog, pictured above by Kendall McLeod