Excerpt from a Book I will Never Write

102

girls like her may always look put together, well-trimmed and polished.
girls like her may always look like they stepped straight out of their packaging.
girls like her might make you feel venemous.
girls like her might make you green with envy and red with rage.
girls like her may have everything they want, and everything you want, too.
girls like her may make you forget that despite what you tell yourself,
girls like her have bad days and bad pasts just like the rest of us.
girls like her come from poor families. girls like her have abusive partners.
girls like her are stuffed full of regrets and secrets and riddled with scars.
girls like her are no different from girls like you.
girls like her may look at girls like you and want to switch places.
girls like her might want to see a girl like you in the mirror.
girls like her can be unhappy.
girls like her may not want to be part of girls like her.
girls like her do not deserve unjustified hatred.
girls like you are just as beautiful.
girls like you have to remember that.
and girls like you have to learn that
girls like her and girls like you are just girls.
girls are beautiful.
girls are exquisite.
girls do not need to compete with each other for first place.
there is no first place. there is no trophy to be won.
you win this game by loving yourself and loving each other.
this is not a race.
believe that you are beautiful, and you have crossed your very own finish line.
nobody is in the running for your own self-love but you.
stop comparing yourself to girls like her.
you are not meant to look like her because you are not her.
you are you.
you are supposed to look like you.
there are no categories here.
no girls like her or girls like you.
there's just a bunch of beautiful girls.