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Heads-up: Some of the links in this piece contain disturbing information and images. Please be aware of what is appropriate for children.
Dear Daughters,
Please hold on. Tightly. Hold on to the belief that you are beautiful. And when someone tells you otherwise, please know the brokenness is within them. Not you. Your body was not made for casual judgment. Or intense inspection. Or really for anyone's approval at all.
Your body. It's just that -- yours. And words like "self-conscious" and "shame" are not. They don't belong to you. So don't take them. Don't let them weave their way into your heart. Don't echo them with your own mouth. Don't stamp them in your thoughts.
Remember, what you see on television, in the magazine, on the runway is only sometimes real. And it comes with lots of pressure. And lots of people with tools and tricks to make it seem 100 percent real to you and me. Sometimes it all comes with a cost -- like not eating. Or drugs. Or even life itself.
But you, sweet girl, have no time for such things.
Today you have music to compose, soccer games to play, books to write, science fairs to win. And someday soon cures to discover, companies to run, marathons to conquer, children to mother.
So ... let's agree on something.
And let's do it right now.
When words are thrown at you about what your body needs to be. When he tells you what it's not. When she tells you what it is. When anyone comes at you with "too big" or "too small" or any other "too."
Right in that moment, let's do something incredibly courageous.
Let's ignore it.
I know. I know. I get it. Those words -- they hurt. A lot. I've heard them, too. And yes, it is so much easier to take them into your soul. To feed them and allow them to take root. But please hear me ...
You cannot do that.
If ever there were a time for bravery, sweet girl, this is it. You see, words against your body are really words against your heart. And oh, how you must be fierce in the protection of your heart. It is, after all, the place where beauty truly grows.
You are beautiful.
Hear it as the whisper of your heart.
Hold tightly to it.
Let nothing sway you from it.
Today and always.