My friends say that I'm not the same...since I changed my name...

You are beautiful...

Beautiful
adj 1: delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration
Ashley, you clearly don't see how beautiful you truly are. And I mean that in all meanings of the word. You have so much inner beauty, and believe it or not, you are gorgeous on the outside too. If you want me to start listing qualities I am envious of, believe me, I will. And I know you don't want to hear this, but the majority of the time, I can't stand the way I look. Especially my body. (I'm a little teapot, afterall.) But goodness gracious child, it would make me so sad if you changed yourself like that. And it makes me so sad that you think you have to. Beauty is NOT about being skinny. Goodness gracious, if it was, 90% of women would certainly be in trouble, don't you think? Not to mention, if its guys you are concerned about, the majority of them WANT a girl with curves just like yours. And that is a proven statistic, we learned about it in my intimate relationships class. Why would you want to change something so beautiful? Moreover, plastic surgery is PAINFUL. Don't forget about that part. I'm not sure exactly what you believe faith wise, but in my opinion, God created you in a BEAUITFUL image, just the way you are. I know I can't convince you of this, you have to find confidence within yourself in order for it to really stick, but I just had to put my two cents in. what can I say? I'm nosy like that. I love you Ash, and you really truly are perfect just the way you are. Anytime you want to talk about self-image issues, please talk to me. I have sooooo many different things to say... Keep smiling, babe.

something i always admired about you in high school was that you seemed so comfortable in your own skin.
i believe that beauty is about nothing more than carrying yourself with confidence, and i know you can do that, you've done it!
i've always had such an awful body image, as you know. so you must realize that i understand how you feel, even though you may want to say i don't because our bodies are so different. i now feel guilty for hating my body. i'm a feminist, after all. i'm not supposed to succomb to society's standards for my body. but just because i believe that no one should have to, that we should all need to aspire to be what we think people want to see, it doesn't mean that i'm not affected by it. i am. very much so. it's part of living in america.

i'm losing my point. final 2 cents: plastic surgery is scary. so many things can go wrong. if you really want to go on one of those shows, make it one that helps you do everything naturally. or better yet, one that makes you feel good about yourself as you are with a few life adjustments.

i am going to have to go with imperfectrose on this one... dude, u are an amazing beautiful person... i think its a cool idea to go on a tv show where they force you to fix the stuff you don't like about yourself, especially with some of us more lazy ppl, (i won't mention any names but, lets face it, i'm pointing at myself here) but it doesn't have to be plastic surgery... i would love to be pressured into working out more by some of those amazingly intimidating people , i really want to get into good shape, like being able to lift more than 40lbs at a time, and keeping my heart healthy... but we all have those things that we want to change about ourselves, and i don't think you have to resort to cutting away to feel beautiful... like manda points out, the natural way seems so much more inspiring... a way to make yourself feel good about the way you look instead of trying to cover up or manipulate it.

babydoll....I know what you mean.
I want to feel like a normal 20 yr old too (with my skin).
But maybe our "flaws" that we THINK we have help us to stay out of trouble. I know if I was perfect, I'd be a bit slutty. I think. I don't know. But you are sexy and beautiful. And remember that. I try to tell myself I am, but I know it's all a lie. With you, it's true.

ashley, i know this is a bit later but here it goes.

So as you may or may not know I thought you were gorgeous and beautiful in highschool, and I am not saying that to make you feel better I think that it's true. But I think you need to consider this long and hard before you do it, I personally think if you want it and you truly think changing you body will make you happy, then do it. Only you can make yourself happy and no one else (at the risk of sounding like a lifetime body image special for teen girls) "be you, and if you think a skinnier version of miss saphian is the right way to go, do it. But if you are doing this for purely physical reeason teh consequences might be a whole new bunch of troubles. I mean after you are skinny then what, most of the time people move on to other things that they think are "wrong" with them. Don't fall into the trap of self-hatred, even though you say you've always been unconfertable. why becoming a skinny uncomfertable person??! Plus you don't want to become a raging slut now do you!? do you really want to risk having a million kids and living on wellfare!?!? IT HAPPENDS!

somthing to think about
later days,
ira.

PS sorry if this is a little cryptic or confusing (or misspelled) it's about 4am and i had a point to make but it was sorta lost when i started zoning out.