It's April 21st 2011. My eyes hurt from a combination of staring at a computer screen all day and allergies. I'm wearing my favorite flannel shirt and I have no makeup on.

Lately, I've been inspired to be the truest form of beauty there is: natural beauty. Since I was in the seventh grade, I wore makeup because I thought I was ugly. But now I feel as if I've lost my childhood innocence when I wear makeup. I don't look like myself. I look like what society wants me to be. Skinny figure, tight clothes, caked makeup, long hair. In a word, superficial.

Last night, me and my best friend David got in a horrible fight. The first fight I ever remember us having. He kept telling me to be more confident in myself. And I told him I couldn't, because I was so far from perfect and so bad at everything. He disagreed. Then I asked him to name one thing I was effortlessly good at. You know what he said? “Being pretty.”

And I cried. The thing is, I haven't been called pretty in so long. When I looked in the mirror, I saw my tear-stained and mascara smudged face. For the first time, I didn't see a girl that had too much acne, or a girl whose boobs aren't big enough, or a girl whose nose is too big. I saw a beautiful girl. I saw what my friends had been begging me to see.

I have a question for you. For the girl with highlights in her hair. For the girl who thinks she's fat. For the one who doesn't go outside without makeup on. For the one who feels lost. If we stopped caring about how we look, would we stop judging other people based on their looks?

Think about it.

This morning, when I woke up, the very first thing my brother said to me was “You look better without makeup.” which I have to say is one of the only compliments I've ever gotten from my brother. I felt so good about myself.

Here's my proposition: go one day without being what society wants you to be. Don't wear makeup or designer labels. Wear your glasses. Put on your favorite sweat pants and t-shirt.

I guarantee that you will not regret it.