February is all about LOVE.

Okay, so to be honest, I don't really believe that. I've never gotten that excited for Valentine's Day and I   definitely don't think we should dedicate a whole month to one holiday. But, I do want to talk about loving yourself and all your flaws for a minute.

Scene: Cracker Barrel after the lunch rush today.

17 year old hostess: LESLIE! Come here! I have to tell you something!! It's important!!
Me: (under the impression there's a work emergency): Yes?
Hostess: I have a love handle. A love handle.

Cue my utter disbelief that this was what she wanted to discuss. 

I tried convincing her that this is part of being a woman and she is getting older (granted, she's still a baby). But she continued to rant about how she was "getting fat" and next time someone hugged her all they would feel was her "huge fat rolls". I told her that as the males around her mature, they will appreciate the curves and all that jazz. Honestly, though, this girl is tall and thin and I was shocked that she felt this way about her.

Once, I started thinking about it, I was the same way my junior and senior year of high school. I had cheered from middle school through the end of sophomore year and once I quit cheering, I grew 5 inches and gained probably 20 pounds. This is something that my body desperately needed (before I was 4'11" and approx. 80 pounds). But, I saw this weight and thought I was fat. Which brought me to Freshman year of college.

Freshman year I probably lost about 20 pounds. I wasn't working out or being healthy either. I just stopped eating. I was definitely not suffering from an eating disorder, I was just going through a rough time and was too stressed to eat. Most of the time, I would fill a plate full of food and then end up eating 3 bites while my best friend yelled at me for not eating. Although, I wasn't doing this on purpose, I secretly liked the weight loss because I thought I was more attractive. It wasn't until I saw a picture of myself from the side and noticed that I was about to disappear.

On the far left. Even in stripes I look like I'm about to disappear. 

After this, I realized being that skinny was unhealthy (it's also when my face started breaking out a TON). After moving to Boone, I gained the weight back and found me a nice boy. Now, this boy is the sweetest and he would probably dump me if I lost a bunch of weight because girls are curvy. Not every girl, of course. And I am in no way bashing on girls who are naturally skinny (because I'm definitely skinny by birth, haha). Everyone is built a certain way and we need to learn to love and accept ourselves just as we are.

I know this isn't easy and I struggle with it every day just like most girls. But I want everyone to spend some time each day appreciating the good things about their body. Think about what our bodies are made for! The idea that our bodies can grow another human being has always baffled and amazed me. So, I'm just asking you to love yourself and try to help your friends love themselves. As girls, we have to support each other in this mean ole world we live in.

What's your favorite thing about yourself?