Dear reader,

The past couple of weeks, I have been feeling down. I have felt lonely, depressed, fat, and stressed. It seems that I had forgotten my worth. My self-esteem had plummeted to, as Anne Shirley puts it so well, “the depths of despair.” I was fine during the day, but as soon as the sun set, I systematically had this cloud of misery creep over me like a shroud.

I cried a lot. I read and wrote to try and escape it. I drowned out the world with loud music and YouTube videos. But none of that worked, not really. I felt lost.

Today, I told myself that I had had enough of it. I walked calmly upstairs, turned on the light that hangs above my bathroom sink, and got out my makeup. I brushed on powder, I coated mascara onto my eyelashes and swept lipstick across my lips. I put some product in my hair to calm the frizz, spritzed on some perfume, and put on some of my favorite earrings. I then moved over to the full-body mirror that sits next to the sink and l took a good look at myself.

I looked straight into my reflection’s eyes and told myself:

“You are beautiful. You are valuable. Your value is not based on your looks. Your value is not based on your weight. Your value is not based on your grades. You are amazing, and you are worthy of love. Your family loves you, your friends love you, and God loves you. Your are priceless, and you are infinitely loved by so many. Now go downstairs, get a grip, and get to work.”

Now, I know that we all feel this way sometimes. Lonely. Depressed. Unwanted. I know that we all need reassurance of our worth at times. So I am going to tell you something right now:

You are beautiful, you are loved, and your value is infinite.

While I know that I may base that statement on the love I believe God has for me, I also know that not everybody has the same worldview as I do. But nevertheless, it is still so, so true. You are an incredible person, regardless of your flaws or shortcomings. You are immensely lovely and worthy and capable of great things! I am writing this now in hopes that you will read this and remember it. When you feel down, repeat this to yourself. Remind yourself how important you are, that nobody can replace you! You are wonderful, special, imperfect and beautiful because of it!

I guess this sort of turned into a ramble, but I hope I get my point across to you. You are worth it. All of it. You are beautiful, and you are so, so, so loved. And I know that no simple words uttered by me or by you can magically fix things, but I hope that this will help you feel better, if only by a tiny bit.

With all of my love and all of my kindest regards,

A Friend, who only wishes to remind you of the truth you may have forgotten.

Darrion Ryce is a seventeen-year-old who lives in France and is a Christian. When she’s not working on schoolwork, she’s either reading, writing, singing, or trying to get her crazy puppy to calm down. She likes bubble baths and chocolate, and she believes that tea is a good remedy for almost anything.