Lately, all we've been hearing about is abusive relationships, especially among teenagers. Honestly, I thought these things only existed on the television until I heard about it recently. The last thing teenagers should be involved in is an abusive relationship and to top it all off, after the abuse, girls are blaming themselves for it. Come on! Our bodies are the temple of God and the last thing that should be done to it is enduring constant abuse. At the end of the day, it all boils down to us loving ourselves. So what do I mean by that? I'll explain further. Think about it, when you look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you see all the 'so-called faults' you have or do you see a beautiful person with lots in store? On numerous occasions, I have heard girls complain about everything and what they want to 'change' about themselves. We were created in God's image and likeness which means that there is nothing wrong with us. At the end of the day, God is not going to ask our friends what they think about us and how we look. He wants our inner beauty. I will recall a quote from one of my role models, Deborah Jean Baptiste Samuel, who said, "Once we have that inner beauty, it will shine from the inside out and we will have a natural glow about ourselves." I will also repeat a line from Maya Angelou's poem, Phenomenal Woman: "They try so much, but they can't touch my inner mystery." This meant that she had that glow and people couldn't figure out what it was. It came from how she felt on the inside, not her appearance and clothes. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying to throw on any mismatched clothing and anything else you feel to, but you don't have to wear indecent clothing because that will only make people judge you. Do you know the saying, 'People will only treat you how you treat yourself'? If we walk around talking about all our 'so-called faults', people will only tell you about them and hold them against you. But if you only state (and accentuate) the positive, don't you think that persons will treat you better? They will have more respect for you, especially when they see that you love yourself. This all boils down to one undeniable fact - once we love ourselves and show the world that we do, we will know that we are too blessed to be stressed. We will see that we are too good, we are too beautiful, and we are just too phenomenal to be involved in an abusive relationship. We don't deserve that. God wants so much more for us; he wants us to shine!