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"&amp;quot;Dear Jess, I have had really low self-esteem lately, and I have no idea why! Nothing major is going on in my life that I would feel bad about myself, but I do. Whenever I see a popular kid from school, I feel unworthy and that they are better than me. I know that everyone deserves to feel pretty, but I don&amp;#039;t feel like it. Why should I feel pretty? What if I feel confident and someone looks at me and thinks, &amp;#039;Wow, she is so ugly; why is she confident?&amp;#039; Please help me. Sincerely, Bummed.&amp;quot; Here&amp;#039;s the truth: There will always be someone who looks at you and thinks, &amp;quot;Wow, she is ugly&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;Wow, she is fat&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;She is stupid.&amp;quot; There will always be someone who talks behind our backs or even thinks negative things about us. Most times we won&amp;#039;t even know it&amp;#039;s happening. And that is true for EVERYONE. Supermodels, actors (think about how much WE talk about them!), even people in your school who you think are &amp;quot;perfect&amp;quot; (thin, cute, whatever). You can never control what someone is going to think or say about you. But that shouldn&amp;#039;t mean that you stop feeling or acting confident. You shouldn&amp;#039;t be acting confident for anyone else but yourself. Confidence can ooze from us when we are really in tune with our lives. When we are doing well in school, or volunteering, or being a good friend, or achieving a goal, taking care of our bodies, making peace with our lives. NO one is more worthy than you to feel this way. We ALL deserve to feel this way, and it&amp;#039;s up to us to take care of ourselves and believe in ourselves. There is enough confidence, love, and body peace to go around. To answer your question, you should feel pretty because you want to feel pretty. Because you believe you are a beautiful spirit with a physical body to match! Because you have a big heart and care about people. And because just by writing this letter, you are taking one step toward making body peace. And that&amp;#039;s darn sexy if you ask me! Jess Weiner is an author, self-esteem expert, and Seventeen&amp;#039;s new Body Peace adviser. To ask Jess your body-image questions, share your thoughts, or vent your frustrations, leave your comments below or send them here. Jess will answer new questions every week! Learn more about Jess at withjess.com. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/health/advice/a2143/low-self-esteem-confidence/>