A Letter to My InsecuritiesIf I could write a letter to my younger self, the very first thing would say, “Accept yourself.” It is a natural human tendency to want approval from others because we are afraid of being rejected and fighting life's challenges alone. However, there comes a time when people can become too dependent on the opinions of others, and this can become very unhealthy for the individual. For me, I reached a point where most of my actions would be based on how others would react and think about me. I would change the way I behave and speak in front of certain people, just so that they can accept me and relate to me more. This hampered my self-expression, as I lived my life as simply as possible to avoid offending most people. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Accept Me. I missed the opportunity to show others what really mattered to me, and the world missed what I had to give. Reacting like this for most of my life has slowly flooded my personal opinions about myself. I always found more excuses not to speak or act, because I only looked at the things people probably wouldn't like about me, rather than what they would like. I could only focus on the negative aspects, and never the positive aspects of myself. “Focus” quickly turned into “obsession” and I became too busy with my hurtful mindset towards myself. There were times when I would go to social events, but return home later because I was so overwhelmed by my insecurities and I didn't have the courage to face them. It wasn't until a few years ago that I realized my insecurities existed, not because someone else pointed them out, but because I did. The problem was never with “everyone”. It was with me. Learning not to care what others thought was different from learning to value what I thought. I needed to accept myself before I could see changes in my life. And so I tried. Of course, it was a challenge to make such an extreme personal change all at once, but I had to do it. It took me about a year and a half of trying to accept myself, before I could be completely comfortable with myself. If I could have told my younger self to accept who I was, all my insecurities would have been much more easily ignored and I would never have missed out on as many experiences and as much time as I did - if only I had could do it..