Let Go Of Your Insecurities And Embrace Your Beauty.

This was always hard for me. Others go to the mirror to encourage themselves, but I always went there just to disguise my body and face.

Author: Iribagiza Patience

Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it! They say, “beauty belongs to the eyes of the beholder”.

It is funny how when we are kids, we don’t care about who we are and how we look. We become fat with floppy bellies or skinny like we are always left behind the doors when it’s dining time.

Running up and down without minding how we are dressed and sometimes to only find out that we are naked. But things become different as we grow up.

Being the firstborn at home gave me a chance to see the world before my siblings. Everyone looked up to me, loved what I loved and did what I did.

I was this tall, skinny and kind of black and brown skinned tomboy. I loved playing football but as I joined high school, I enjoyed basketball more.

I never cared about what I did and how I did it. Yes, I liked designing clothes , but I never felt it would suit me like everyone else.

Wherever I saw a nice dress or suit, I would tell myself that it would look better on someone else. I always questioned myself and it made me less confident. And then I grew up.

After finishing high school, I applied to a couple of jobs. I wished people would interview me only via a phone call because I didn’t want them to underestimate me before giving me a chance to present myself and show them what I was capable of.

I was ashamed of myself since most of the people thought I looked younger than my age. So, I was afraid they would not listen to me thinking that I was just a kid wasting their time.

One day, I reported to my first job. It was my first day and upon reaching the personnel's office, he said, “aren’t you bringing us an under aged employee!” I was excited, nervous and disappointed at the same time.

I didn’t know what to feel at the moment. All I was thinking was the fact that I looked sixteen. The only good thing that happened was them looking at my level of education. However, it didn’t make me look older either!

I kept on tolerating such comments, lying to myself that I was okay with it, until I moved from one place to another. Holding big positions has nothing to do with someone’s appearance.

I used to ask my mom if I dressed like a big girl to make sure that whoever I talked to would take me seriously. Not that I wanted everyone’s attention, but I needed them to know the importance of what I said.

This was always hard for me. Others go to the mirror to encourage themselves, but I always went there just to disguise my body and face.

I met people who wished they could have a small size; but it never convinced my heart that I was okay, just the way I was.

You might be reading this and may be you’re fat, big and look chubby and you think it’s the worst thing you can ever have in this world. But the truth is, most people, especially girls, don’t appreciate how they really are.

You look at others and think they are perfect but if you asked, they could tell you that they have a lot of insecurities too.

I remember one day, I was from a canteen with a co-worker and we were going upstairs back to work. He motioned me to go first but instead I stopped to let him pass. It's not that I was so polite to do so, I was just insecure.

Sometimes, the world tells you to look like someone else and be like the perfect girl you work with, live with, you saw passing by or somewhere in a magazine. It just puts your soul in the darkness of hoping to change.

You break your heart for what no one will ever care about. But always remember; beauty is how you let your heart, mind and eyes see.

You need to open your soul, accept who you are, and love that perfectly imperfect figure or that little part of you that you don’t like. You will have the confidence to tell yourself that you are beautiful without waiting for the world to say it. And it is because you honestly are beautiful.

Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong and that’s the beauty of believing in yourself. If you let it be.