The ups and downs of young adults

Self-esteem- the drama of young adults

I'm very ugly

So don’t try to convince me that

I am a very beautiful person

Because at the end of the day

I hate myself in every single way

And I’m not going to lie to myself by saying

Who do I see in my mirror?

There is beauty inside of me that matters

So rest assured I will remind myself

That I am a worthless, terrible person

And nothing you say will make me believe

I still deserve love

Because no matter what

I am not good enough to be loved

And I am in no position to believe that

Beauty does exist within me

Because whenever I look in the mirror, I always think

Am I as ugly as people say? Abdullah Shoaib

This is an incredible poem, capturing the turbulent self-image problems of many young people as they grow into their full potential.

• If you read it in the normal way, from the top down, you discover a person who if low in confidence, low in hope and perhaps full of self-hatred.

• Read the same words from the last line upwards and you see a young person who is full of hope, assertive and absolutely convinced of their goodness.

Exactly the same words, read differently, create a different self-image.

We need to help young adults read their lives from the last line upwards.

We need to mirror a young persons goodness more than we mirror their faults.

“In every young person, a point of goodness is accessible, and it is the primary duty of the educator to discover that sensitive goodness of the heart so as to draw out the best in the young person.”

-Saint John Bosco-