Oh, P!nk. I could kiss you.

I'm not a huge fan of "believe in yourself / you can achieve anything / if you would only just / belieeeeeeeeeeve in yourself" songs. If it were as easy as "just" believing in yourself, we wouldn't really have much use for believe-in-yourself songs, would we? Nope. 'Cause we would, the world over, already believe in ourselves.

Learning to believe in yourself is a little more complicated than that. If you don't already believe in yourself, it's a long, slow haul to understanding what's beautiful about you. Sometimes what it takes to help you start seeing what you're worth is seeing someone else's faith in you.

P!nk's video "F**kin' Perfect" is just that. If you're wondering what's good about you, or don't believe there's anything good about you, please watch this video and know that, to someone, somewhere, you are perfect. Warning: This video is graphic, but it's for a powerful, beautiful purpose.


Knowing someone else believes in you isn't the whole battle, but it's a fabulous place to start.

I struggled with depression through my teenage years. Many days, the only thing I liked about myself was my calves. I have pretty freakin' phenomenal calves.

Often I'd think there was nothing good about me. What's the use? Then I'd catch myself and think, y'know, there's this one thing. Maybe in time I'll learn to see others.

I totally did. I'm glad I kept the faith. I'm glad, too, for how my first boyfriend urged me to donate blood. Knowing I'd helped someone else live by donating a half-hour of my time and a little blood was a powerful thing. I'd urge you to try the same if you're asking yourself, "What am I worth?"

If you can't donate blood? Consider volunteering at a blood bank, or anywhere at all, really. Seeing in a very real, very tangible way the good I could do for others was a huge second step in believing I was worth something. I've heard the same thing over and over again from other folks through my years of volunteering. You, too, might benefit from seeing this for yourself.

Perfection? Never gonna happen. But you mean the world to someone, somewhere, and that is the "F**kin' Perfect" truth.