it's scary as an almost 30yo to see how trapped younger generations are by the idea that torturing your body and your mind until you morph yourself into an universally agreed-upon hot girl is the only path to succeed in life, as if pretty privilege is the only strength you can have in your favor to leverage as a woman and find love, success, friendship, happiness
i was never the pretty girl type, not at any stage in my life, i was simply not born with what's considered the current beauty standard set of genes. i had to learn very early on to focus on all the other things i'm good at. to be smart, to be funny, to be creative and a good friend and a warming person and a weird little yapping nerd. all the good and charming things you are will bring you so much love and joy and connection, you should prioritize them, nourish yourself
you don't need to be the prettiest girl in the room to make your friends laugh or to have that deep heartfelt conversation with your crush late at night when you both don't wanna go yet. it hurts to not be desired right now, but it will hurt so much more to have wasted your only life chasing an ever-changing set of rules on how to make yourself look to feel like you're finally worth something. fitting the beauty standard is not your only option, and it's also definitely not gonna be the most fulfilling one
