Insecurity

*Watch Ingrid's video before reading!*

After watching this video, it got me thinking about insecurities and how they affect us in a big way. Everyone has their own insecurities, whether it's a physical attribute, or something about their personality or mentality. Each and every one of them is as valid as the other. I figured I'd write about my insecurities and my thoughts on the topic, as I do with everything I write here, in the hope it'll inspire you to do the same. I feel like it could be a little therapeutic, too. 

I've never really told this story to anyone before, but it feels a lot easier to tell it in writing rather than face-to-face. I don't remember having anything that bothered me about myself in primary school, none of the kids picked on me or anything. It wasn't until my first week of secondary school that one of my insecurities was introduced by two boys in my DT class. They'd decided it'd be a fun idea to hold two rulers against their own noses, and say that that was what mine looked like. I was never aware that my nose was any different to anyone elses, because until that point, it hadn't been pointed out to me. But after that moment, for years, my nose became a huge insecurity for me, it still is now. Every time I looked in a mirror, I saw this massive clump of skin and bone in the middle of my face, sticking out from everything else; I saw myself as ugly. It's not that it's just long either, there's a ridge in it from when I ran into a bookcase when I was younger (I'm sure that was the story, my mum will correct me if I'm wrong!) which made it stand out to me even more. 

All thanks to those two ignorant boys, this one imperfect feature became a centre point for my insecurities and  for my misery. Anytime somebody was looking at me oddly, I decided they were staring at my nose. If kids were whispering to each other in class, it was obviously about my nose. For years, I decided that when I was older, I'd save up money for plastic surgery to make it smaller and straighter, just so I could be like everyone else. How crazy is that? A 12 year old wanting a nose job... 

That's still my biggest insecurity, but it's become a lot less prominent over the last few years. Maybe I've just got used to it, and it's not such a big deal to me anymore. Maybe after 20 years, I've stopped caring about these physical imperfections so much. Whatever it is, it's made a huge difference to me.

Do I suddenly think that my nose is perfect? Absolutely not. I'm not happy with it, but I no longer let that bother me so much. Everybody has little things that they wish they could change about themselves, whether it's a facial feature, weight, the size of their boobs (or if you're male, the size of your penis, even!), how many moles you have on your body, the amount of hair on your body, anything can become an insecurity. So if everybody has them, why do we let them bother us so much? Why don't we all just get on with them and accept that everybody is different? Not one person in the world is perfect, despite what people may think. For example, if you found one person in the world who was your representation of perfection, I can guarantee that that person would not agree. They would have at least one thing that they would change about themselves.

Everybody has days where they feel ugly, or not at their best, but nobody should ever feel like that 100% of the time. I encourage whoever is reading this, to share your insecurities, to let people know that they're completely normal. If you have a blog, please write a post in response to this, and leave the link in the comments section! If you don't, talk about your insecurities to a parent, a sibling, a friend even. Insecurities are a completely normal thing to have, don't let them take over your life. 

Box Swap Goodies!

If you're an avid reader, you'll remember I wrote this post back in January, about the Valentine's Box Swap I was involved in. Last week, I received my box, from the lovely Lily & Ella from Grace to Grace, which to be perfectly honest, put mine to shame!

The box was beautiful, with a cute message on the lid, and they even sent me a little card with a Valentine's message inside! You girls really outdid yourselves! My box for them (I was only given the name and address for Lily, so I was actually unaware that Ella was involved too! Sorry about that!) was put in an envelope to save money on postage (I am a poor student after all!), and made my own little card out of coloured paper! Not quite as fancy as this, huh!

When I opened the box, my eyes were treated to a bundle of multicoloured tissue paper, and this is what I found at the bottom! A Rimmel Colour Rush Balm in "Not An Illusion", a L'Oreal Super Liner, a Maybelline 24 Hour Colour Tattoo in "Pink Gold", a Barry M Crystal Glaze, and a TON of Mini Chupa Chups lollipops! 

I love everything I got, I can't thank you guys enough, and I'd recommend any of you to take part in a box swap if you get the chance! 

Be My Valentine?

Despite the fact that I've had boyfriends for the last 3 Valentine's Days, I've never been one to get into the spirit of the day. I'm one of those cynical girls that likes to ignore the day completely and says that "couples should show they love each other every day, not just one day a year". Sad, right?

I saw this post on Lucie's blog, and was surprisingly really excited about the idea. It's a Valentine's box swap with other bloggers in the UK, with a £20 budget. I was too late to join in with the Christmas box swaps last year, so I knew straight away that I wanted to be involved with this one.

I've been writing this blog for about 7 months now, and although I've met some really lovely girls through it, I still haven't found that instant click that other bloggers describe when they make fellow blogger friends. This would be the perfect opportunity to get to know another blogger and find the perfect items for their Valentine's box (I LOVE to give gifts!).

So how can you get involved?

Go ahead to Lucie's post, follow the instructions, tell your followers about it, then wait for your email on the 31st January to find out the details of your blogger! This is my first experience with something like this, so I'm super excited to get involved!

Let me know if you decide to join in, or even if you have already!