Teens around the world tend to be self-conscious about appearance and also, face self esteem issues sometimes. We can’t really blame ourselves because it’s natural since it’s caused by changes in our hormones and hitting puberty or that’s at least what we’ve been taught in biology at school!

Even though it’s natural, this self-consciousness can lead to low self esteem which is definitely not good. It makes you an easier prey of bad peer pressure and drains out your confidence too. The only solution to this is to love yourself. When you love yourself, you’re assured that there’s nothing wrong with you.

It is a common thing for teenagers to worry about their external appearance. But in reality internal beauty is far more important and much more appreciated.

Think about this, even if a girl is very pretty but frowns she won’t be seen as good but a kind and gentle girl who may not be very attractive physically will be appreciated more. There is a saying, "Beauty is skin deep” signifying that external beauty is superficial.

Teens are very likely to pay attention to the way they dress. There is no harm in it until you don’t cross a certain limit, that is to say blindly follow the fashion world and waste the time and money.

 It is always better to opt for what suits you and is comfortable and not to choose it just because it’s in "style”. This is because the styles in the fashion world change in almost every 5 years but it’s always better to make and maintain an individual identity. This also proves good in bringing out and drawing attention to your self confidence and self respect.

Another thing the teens worry about is acceptance and thus, they end up doing things to please others or just develop a shy personality with a low esteem. What they should realize is that they should love themselves for who they are and not care what others think about them. If you like someone then just be yourself and if they don’t like you for that then they don’t deserve you! Also, how do you expect someone to like you, when you don’t like something about yourself?

Thus, friends it is always better to follow your heart rather than others. It is your life and therefore the choices you make will affect you and not others. Be confident with what you have. Don’t feel ashamed of being yourself because nobody else in this world can be like you. You can’t anticipate someone to love you when you don’t love yourself!

The writer is a student of grade 12 at Greenhills academy.

Ends