Be-YOU-tiful {Practicing Good Habits}

A woman's self worth can by determined by so many variables. How we, as women, perceive others by defining ourselves has a lot to do with our own self worth. We know who we are, what we love, and what we stand for, but we often forget this tried and true definition of ourselves when we begin to consider others' falliable opinions of our worth. Self-worth can be determined by just about anything. For example, whether or not we're in a committed relationship, what we scored on our last math exam, or (many would say, most important) how many likes we get on our Instagram posts. And, as much as we all cherish our social media, I feel that it's safe to say true confidence and social media simply do not go hand in hand most of the time.

Social media, namely Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are truly addictive. The  compliments we receive on a cute post with our love interests, or the plethora of likes we  attain on a photo with our most beautiful sorority sisters often cause our egos to swell.  Conversely, when we are sitting at home stressing about our math homework or, even  worse, are experiencing utter boredom due to a lack of plans, we experience  overwhelming jealousy upon viewing these posts that we feel of which we should,  somehow, be a part.

However, we often fail to consider one of the fundamentals of social media,  the one my mother always reminded me of in high school—no one posts about the  negative, unfortunate, or boring occurrences in his or her life! The girls who get 300­ some-odd likes (are you really friends with all 300 people?) don’t post on Instagram about the horrible  fight they had with their best friend last week, or how they’re waiting by their phones for  one measly text from the guy they’ve been interested in for weeks, who obviously has  other things on his mind. They, instead, post about the fun they’re having out at dinner or  partying with their closest girlfriends.

This is a wise tactic, but believe me, every single human being has a bad day every once in awhile.. Even Beyoncé. Therefore, let's not fall into these predictable patterns of comparison- THEY ARE THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL and the murderer of confidence.

We each are beautiful, inside and out. This is a lame, cliché, overdone concept but  we somehow STILL have a hard time accepting this fact of life! Each of us was perfectly,  thoughtfully created out of love and, here’s the kicker, WE WERE MADE DIFFERENT  ON PURPOSE. I mean, hello, are we forgetting about our fingerprints? So what  we’re shorter or have bigger teeth or curlier hair than the girls who are sitting to our right and left—this was not an accident,  ladies. We aren’t all supposed to be identical twins to Jessie James­Decker, so why are  we behaving so naively?  Let’s make a vow—starting now, comparison is off­limits! No if’s, and’s, or but’s!

Let's all make it a point of focus on and, more importantly, be grateful for each of our own beautiful defining qualities. Let's practice positive self-talk and tell ourselves "This is how I am supposed to be." Let's reconsider our definitions of self, and ultimately how we determine our self-worth. Let's forget about how many likes our ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend gets, and remember that no one in his or her right mind posts photos of the bad stuff in his or her life. Let's remember to take all forms of social media with a grain of salt, keeping in mind that there are much, much more important things in life that we could be fretting over (for example, world hunger or how in the world I'm going to pass any of my classes at this point in the semester). Let's throw our perceptions of how others view us out the window and practice loving ourselves by our own self-definitions of what makes us beautiful. And let's finally feel beautiful BEING OURSELVES while our confidence flourishes!

Written by Guest Blogger, Carlisle Sandy; Edited by UNA Panhellenic