How Do You Define Yourself

Meet Lizzie Velasquez. Lizzie is an inspirational speaker who was once labeled “The World’s Ugliest Woman” by bullies on social media.

In a time when beauty is defined by supermodels, success is defined by wealth, and fame is defined by how many followers you have on social media, Lizzie Velasquez asks the question “how do you define yourself?”

Lizzie was born with a rare disorder called “Neonatal Progeroid Syndrome”, which prevents her from gaining weight. She is also visually impaired, but neither of these things stop her. Rather than look at what she doesn’t have, she focuses her life on the blessings she does have.

Ever since grade school Lizzie was bullied because of the way she looked. Luckily for Lizzie her parents sat her down at an early age and explained that the only thing different about her was that she was smaller than the other kids, but that it would not define who she was.

Despite the advice and loving support from Lizzie’s parents during her youth, she spent the majority of her childhood thinking her outer appearance is what defined her. It wasn’t until high school when Lizzie found a video posted on the internet that she came to a realization that changed her life.

The video featured Lizzie and labeled her as the world’s ugliest woman. There was no sound, the video was only 8 seconds long, and it had over 4 million views when she came across it. Cyberbullies said horrible things about Lizzie in the comments below and the worst one that hurt her the most told her to “do the world a favor, put a gun to her head, and kill herself”.

Imagine being in high school and coming across a video of yourself, seen by millions of people, where hundreds of strangers were cyberbullying you about your appearance. This fueled a turning point in Lizzie’s life. Rather than letting the hateful words define her, she chose to stand strong and count her blessings instead.

Lizzie used the negativity of her bullies to strengthen her motivation and achieve her goals. If you’re being bullied remember not to let their words define you, because only you can define who you are.