It is no secret that we all have an opinion on just about everything that transpires in life. Be it as impacting as who should be the president of the United States of America or whether or not Jada and August’s “entanglement” is newsworthy.

I’m not interested in swaying your stand on the two subjects of discussion I raised—right now anyway. But if you are inclined to accept and believe the opinions of others regarding your abilities, appearance, or overall being over yours, I am interested in swaying you.

When I started writing this post a few days ago, I was driven solely by my desire to encourage self-love and acceptance. But thanks to the usual fashion of social media, I was given more ammunition for my cause.

On Saturday, one of the groups I follow shared a post that degrades dark-skinned black women. It was shared to encourage black men to support and protect black women more. I was offended and annoyed by the post for obvious reasons. One being, I am a black dark-skinned woman. But the words of the author bothered me for other reasons too.

Aside from his poor grammar and inability to structure and punctuate a sentence properly, his ignorance is disheartening, and there are several layers to it. Although his words are directed toward a group I am a part of, I am more concerned about how they can potentially affect younger generations. What would happen if a young, black, dark-skinned girl who hasn’t established a healthy level of self-esteem reads it? What about the impressionable, young, black boy who may see it? How could this potentially affect how he views black women?

Unfortunately, this level of ignorance exists. But like the title of this post reads, everyone has an opinion, regardless of how deplorable it may be. However, there is a silver lining—we don’t have to accept it.

We must form an opinion of ourselves that is not influenced by other people. Let’s strive to love ourselves unconditionally, so when ignorant things are said to us or about us, we won’t be swayed to accept them.

I’ve shared the following statement before, but people like Ronnie Johnson make it necessary to repeat it.

“Everyone will not appreciate, celebrate, love, or even like you. But that doesn’t mean you can’t appreciate, celebrate, love, and like yourself.”

Furthermore, someone’s inability to see and embrace you as you are does not diminish your worth. I implore you to think well of yourself despite the ignorance and mistreatment you may encounter. Everyone has an opinion, but believe the positive report you create for yourself.

Until the next time be you—and more important—love you.

Being uniquely you is being uniquely beautiful.

-B.B. 💋