I stand in awe of my body, and you should stand in awe of yours too. Your body is remarkable and it is not given the credit that it deserves.

The culture that we live in focuses so highly on praising those who are aesthetically pleasing, that it forgets to acknowledge the other (more important) aspects of what a body can do. Yes, all bodies are beautiful and no, they don’t need to prescribe to ignorant ideals to be seen as such. We do not take enough time to appreciate the absolute wonder that the human body is – this vessel that we have been given to exist in is demeaned and ridiculed by a society that values beauty and attractiveness over anything else. In spite of ourselves, most of us believe the lies that swarm our way, but we can’t help it, it is what we have been conditioned by society to believe. There is no-one to blame and no-one to hold responsible – but if, as a collective, we try to remember the mind-blowing things that are bodies are capable of, we might be able to challenge societies preconceived ideas about what a body’s best attribute is. I’ll bet my bottom dollar that beauty doesn’t even come into the equation after these…

The human eye is so sensitive that if the Earth were flat, you could spot a candle flickering at night from up to 30 miles away.

But the human eye is still being told to focus on the darkness and negativity of self-hatred.

When you blush, the lining of your stomach blushes too.

But we are told to contour, cover up, hide and mask our real and genuine skin.

An adult is made up of 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (7 octillion) atoms. There are ‘only’ 300,000,000,000 (300 billion) stars in our galaxy.

But we are taught that our bodies are nothing special unless we fit into societies ‘ideal’.

A full head of human hair is strong enough to support 12 tonnes.

But we are told to perfect salon-worthy hair, if not, we are not worthy.

Human bone is as strong as granite. A block of bone the size of a matchbox could support nine tonnes of weight.

But we are told that our bodies and minds are weak.

For every pound of fat or muscle gained, your body creates seven miles of new blood vessels.

But we are told that we cannot mentally grow with our bodies.

Your body produces 25 million new cells each second. Every 13 seconds, you produce more cells than there are people in the United States.

But we are told that unless our bodies succumb to societal pressures, not to value ourselves.

Humans shed 40 pounds of skin in their lifetime, completely replacing their outer skin every month.

But we are told not to admire or love the skin we’re in.

Your stomach manufactures a new lining every three days to avoid digesting itself.

But we are told to watch what we eat.

There are more than 600 individual skeletal muscles and 206 bones in your body.

But we are told that the only things worth noting are the size and shape of our bodies.

These are just a handful of the facts out there relating to the human body, and all it takes is a quick Google search to discover all of the things that your body is capable of. I think it’s about time that we stopped hinging our worth on the way that we look, and instead shift the focus to the things that we are able to accomplish because of our inconceivably fascinating bodies. I stand in awe of my body, because it is capable of things beyond my wildest imagination.