There's a lot of pressure on girls today.  It seems like you have to look like the models in the magazines to be considered beautiful, even though it's impossible to look like someone who has been airbrushed.  You have to be able to balance school, family, friends, and after-school activities.  You're supposed to be ladylike while being athletic, play an instrument, or dance, or do a number of activities that are 'for girls'.

So what happens when you can't be all those things at once?  When you don't look like the models in magazines, you have no musical talent, or you're more athletic than your guy friends? If I know it's impossible to meet all these standards, then why do I feel bad about myself?

A majority of women today have problems with their self-esteem, no matter their age.  For some girls it's related to their body, for some it's related to their talents, and for others it's related to their intelligence.  The point is almost all women have something they don't like about themselves, or wish that they could change.

When you're going through periods of low self-esteem, it helps to know that you're not the first girl, and you won't be the last, who's going through this. Chances are your friends are having similar problems but they are either too embarrassed to talk about it or they don't know how to.  The only real way to handle your self-esteem problems is to become comfortable with who you are, including what you can and cannot do.  Just remember that you're not the only one who is going through this, now or ever.  Women deal with their self-esteem problems everyday.