Me, myself and i

Sometimes the simplest of concepts are the hardest to acquire. It’d be quite naïve of me to assume all concepts are easy to grasp in just a small amount of time, some take years. However, I can genuinely say that I never thought self-love would be one of the long-term concepts. 

             When we are young we are so content with ourselves. I believe the only thing in question is possibly our sneaker choices but that was about the highest of stakes. There was no pressure to be or not be a type of person or look a certain way. Suddenly, were not so young anymore and we are hit with countless expectations that we are expected to meet. Be the perfect height, the preferred body size, maintain perfect skin and the list just goes on. It is exhausting. Honestly, it seems counter intuitive to me that when we get older that is the time that we are finding ourselves and growing into who we want to be except we are supposed to simultaneously fit into all of these categories for social validation limiting that growth process. As opposed to discovering new things we love about ourselves we are actually just creating new insecurities we never knew we had. 

             In today’s time the struggle to love ourselves is extremely prevalent. The majority of us have some source of social media that is constantly exposing us to highly unrealistic notions of what we are supposed to look like. I personally have started to dislike going on my social media anymore because one way or another it makes me feel poorly about myself. The worst part about that is I am not even 100% sure what I am comparing myself to is real or not. I cannot express this enough, not everything you see on the internet is the true reality, it is a façade of editing and filters. That is not to say it is not okay to edit your pictures because it absolutely is if it makes you feel better about posting it. I love putting filters on my photos, whitening my teeth, and smoothing my skin. But I say all of this because you should never compare yourself to what you see on social media because it is fixed the way the creator feels most comfortable, hiding their insecurities. 

  Girls and guys should be able to go on social media and support others and how they look without disliking or tearing themselves down because of it. Sometimes I will see a beautiful girl with bright blue eyes or with a super skinny and long torso and absolutely loathe my brown eyes and short torso. That is such an unhealthy mentality to have. I was not born tall or with light eyes therefore, I need to embrace what I do have. I have learned to love my eyes and my curly hair and am slowly becoming confident in my body for what it is. Self-love is not simple by any means, but I can assure you it is worth the journey. 

    My personal journey to loving myself really began my first year of elementary school. My dad gave me the name of Sixx which while it is totally rad it was a very easy target for other kids to pick on me. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t received snarky or back handed comments towards my name, but it just never really bothered me. I was raised to love being different and to stand out and I felt like my name was something I needed to live up to. If I were to put all the negative comments about my name next to the positive ones, the positive ones would wipe out the negative ones in a landslide. Now being 19 years old and looking back, my name has done absolute wonders for me and did exactly what my dad intended it to. It made people remember me. However, had I not embraced my name whole heartedly I don’t think it would have had quite the same effect. I did not allow it to be a threat to me. In the same time period, from about 6 years old to 12 years old my hair was always dyed a vibrant color. Every color you can think of I’ve had in my hair. Again, by doing this I was most definitely leaving myself vulnerable to be picked on throughout school, but I felt like myself when my hair was colorful. It made me feel confident and unique, I didn’t want to look like everyone else. I believe that it was very clear to my peers that I was comfortable in my own skin and happy with myself therefore, what was there to pick on? My name is Sixx Orange and I have bright rainbow hair, like it or not I think people had to give me props for having the guts to carry myself through a public school like that. 

    At the end of the day, you’re not going to be everyone’s taste. Not everyone is going like how you dress or do your makeup. Criticism is a part of life. That being said, the only opinions regarding yourself that matters are your own. No one is ever going to be able to love you to the amount that you can love yourself. You by no means have to meet the expectations of anyone else and anyone who makes you feel insecure about yourself is solely projecting their own insecurities onto you. The sooner you figure that out and recognize how to embrace yourself, the sooner you will be happy and comfortable in your own skin regardless of others. There is only one you in this world which means it is your responsibility to leave a mark and be remembered as the best, most loved version of yourself.