Me Without Makeup: A Post About Loving Yourself

In the midst of all the concealers, cleansers, treatments, and creams I sometimes lose sight of what is truly important: loving myself without any of the additions. Loving my skin blemishes, freckles, moles and all. So drumroll please...here I am in all my bare-skinned glory.

As all of you must know by now, I love beauty products. I stroll down the aisles of Target looking for the newest skincare treatments hoping that I will find a life changing product to end any and all skin issues for the rest of eternity. Because that will change the world--kidding! Recently I've been thinking about the kind of person I am and the kind of person I hope to be. I want to inspire, motivate, and instill hope in future generations (or really anyone!). I want to be someone people can look up to. I want to, dare I say, change the world. And although talking about beauty products can't change the world, perhaps I can inspire just one person to be confident and love herself. No one is perfect, no one looks flawless all the time, and everyone has bad days.

I've always looked up to strong female athletes like Angela Ruggiero, Cammi Granato, and Wilma Rudolph because they're strong and fearless and have paved the way for women in sports. To be as successful as they have been they had to be confident and love themselves every step of the way. I'm sure there were times they didn't feel beautiful or confident, but guess what? They went out and fought tough battles and are now legends.

I want to be like these strong women who are beautiful and passionate and happy with their bodies and their lives. I've never been unhappy with my body, but as a girl I do sometimes feel pressure to look a certain way. I've hidden behind concealer for years and it's time to stop. I'm almost 21 years old and it's time to feel proud and beautiful and happy with who I am when nothing is covered up. I've picked at blemishes leaving scars, another issue I'm currently working on. I'm no where near cured of this habit, but I've gotten exponentially better. I have finally realized that most people will not notice if I forgo the makeup for a day. If I don't wear concealer to cover up my imperfections, the world does not end. As much as I love makeup and the way I look all done up, I've come to love myself not wearing makeup as well.

I dare you to go a few days without any makeup at all! It's scary and it's revealing, but I promise you'll feel more confident and love yourself just a little bit more!