Sometimes it's really hard to be a woman. Especially a girl human. There are girls all over the industrialized world who are starving themselves to be thin, and therefore, aesthetically acceptable. This is wrong. We all know it. But somehow, the fact that we know it's wrong doesn't really change anything.

I, myself, am considered attractive. I'm petite (read:short) 5'1". Size 2-4, Brown hair. Blue eyes. Nice smile, when I utilize it. But sometimes I have trouble seeing this. I find faults in my appearance that others cannot see at all.

I stand naked in front of a mirror and see fat thighs, big butt, cellulite (god! i'm only 26!!); my still youthful body is slowly morphing into the familiar, but not comforting, shape of my mother and her mother before her. My belly sticks out too much; it's not fat, it's just jam packed with vital organs, but it ruins the aesthetic lines. My hips are too narrow, my thighs too wide. I am dissatisfaction incarnate.

My boyfriend curls his arms around my nakedness and gazes into the same mirror. He tells me how beautiful I am.

It's almost as if we're looking at two different people.

We are.

Here's an exercise for my female readers. I want you to make a list. Write down all of the characteristics of what you think would be the perfect woman. Here's my list:

Tall Long, straight hair Beautiful Out going In perfect physical shape Enlightened Easy going

O.K. Now compare your list with the reality that is you.

Right off the bat I'm sunk. Tall. I will never be tall. Not ever. I've ceased growing about 10 years ago. To be quite truthful, I'll probably shrink a bit as I grow older. And as for the long, straight hair, well, that's another pipe dream best left on the cutting room floor. My hair doesn't get longer when it grows, it gets bigger. Curly hair runs in my family, as does the bottom-heavy body type. Genetics has assured that I'm never going to be a lot of the things on my list of perfection. Odds are none of us will. But if we want to remain sane, we must accept our bodies as they are. With acceptance comes change. And the most important change is not going to occur on the outside, my friend. The revolution will be on the inside.