You’ve taken the perfect selfie. The lighting was perfect, your hair was on point, you’ve put just the right amount of filters and editing over it in order to make it still look natural, to make it look like the best you that you can be. You’ve written the caption, you have it ready to post on Instagram, but something is stopping you. Something in your brain screams at you DON’T POST IT! You hesitate. Why? Does it really matter how many likes your selfie will get? To you it does, because you feel the need for this validation. Somehow getting 100+ likes on this photo of yourself will make you feel good. And it does. But this is not the only thing that should make you feel this good.

In 2014 the word “selfie” was added to the Merriam Webster Dictionary and the world seemed to erupt in opinions. Why should this slang term be added to a big book with hundreds of millions of other words? Why not just add ginormous and confuzzled while we’re at it? Because selfie is more than just getting likes. It is about self love. If you think you look good and you’re feeling really happy with yourself, you want to share that. You want the world to know how great you’re feeling right now. What better way to do that than through social media? Social media is not the future, it is the right now. Everything comes through social media, from breaking news to celebrity gossip to showing our support for others whether it’s family, friends or completely other countries. If you want to share something, you Tweet it, Instagram it, Snapchat it or Facebook it. Maybe you want to share a new school project, or charity you’re working with, or maybe you want to share your self love. Do it. Next time you hesitate when posting your selfie. don’t. Post it. Don’t worry about the likes or what the girl in your chemistry class might say tomorrow. Post it because you can. Post it because you are beautiful. Post it because it makes you feel good inside. Post it because everyone deserves to feel as beautiful as you do right now.