You do not have to match their ideals

Meet their criteria

Soften your words

Or tame your spirit

To be beautiful

The size of your waist does not determine your worth

The shape of your breasts does not determine your beauty

And the length of your hair does not determine your loveliness

You can be freckled

or ebony

or ivory

Or the golden hues of summer sands

You can grow your hair as long as you wish

Or cut it as short as a pixie’s mane

You can be smooth and soft as a petal

Or grow your garden untamed with wildflowers

Your soul can be scarred

Or unbroken

Or something in between

You can be waiting for your first

Or you can have met a hundred lovers in your sheets

You can be any shape

and any color in this world

It does not matter

Just worship yourself, first

Before anything

or anyone else

Life is too short to let the world dictate what is beautiful about your body and spirit

It is too short to listen to them when they tell you what you should do

Or say

Or think

Or be

Admire the vessel that carries your soul

Because you only get one

And this existence is far simpler

When we are filled with nothing less than awe and love

For ourselves.