Only 2%? Doesn't that seem crazy? Absolutely bizarre and unjust and totally wack? (Sorry to bring you back to the nineties there, but a strong word was needed).

If you're like me, you read a stat like that, and you completely agree that it is crazy, absolutely wild that so many women don't think of themselves as beautiful.

But if you're like me, deep down inside, you also understand.

On a good day, I can look in a mirror and see pretty  Sometimes cute.  My boyfriend tells me I'm beautiful, but he's sort of biased, right?  And for every one nice feature I can see in myself, five not-so-nice features peer out at me from the mirror.

It's always been this way.  My friends are the same.  The first thing one of us says when trying on a pair of pants is not, "damn, I look good!" but, "do these make my butt look ok?"

And we are not alone.  All but 2% of the women in the world feel this way.  And only 1% described themselves as sexy.  So few described themselves as gorgeous that it didn't even make the global radar.

I am these women, too.  I would not tell someone that I was beautiful.  It's just asking to be shot down.  But things like "I feel so fat today", or "I'm having an ugly day" are ok and common.

So many women, more than documented I am sure, have eating disorders.  So many fantasize about plastic surgery to feel good about themselves, changing their outsides because they feel bad inside.  So many judge themselves by comparing their faces to the airbrushed and over-made up faces in fashion magazines.  

I am these women, too.

BUT, so many women are so, so beautiful when they laugh.  

I am these women, too. So are you, gorgeous.

**All facts are from the "The Real Truth About Beauty, A Global Report" by the Dove Real Beauty Campaign**

ALSO, if impossible hotties in ads or magazines ever get you down, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U