Loving myself has been a long time coming! Even though I am still
very young, my life has had its ups and downs. My experience with negative body
image started at a young age.
It all started around the third grade when
I noticed I didn't look like the other girls. I was bigger and a lot shorter. I
felt really down and different. I started to become depressed.
Fast forward to middle school, I chopped
off all of my hair to fit in better, my hair was almost to the back of my
knees. I started wearing makeup to try and hide myself from the world.
Then I joined cheerleading and lost a little weight and grew a few inches. I
felt a little better but still not like the thin, tall girls in the magazines.
I bleached my whole head and started wearing smaller, more flashier clothes and
even more makeup! I was uncomfortable in my own skin, but in my little disguise
I felt better. A lot of the bullying eventually stopped.
I moved and started high-school somewhere
new. I had no friends but I knew a few people from elementary. My hair was now
about to my shoulders from all the bleaching. I kept on with not being me. By
the end of the year I realized this wasn't who I was. I dyed my hair brown and
went back to being myself.
Sophomore year I met someone very special
to me who helped me find who I am. I made great friends who empowered me, they
were strong young women comfortable with themselves and I wanted that.
Eventually I decided that I could love myself too!
Now ending my junior year in high-school I
feel a lot better about myself. Even though I have my bad days and I still want
to loose some weight, I feel great! I love my body just the way it is! Finally!
It feels great to love who I’ve become and
where I am going with my life! I am Proud of myself, and I feel pretty.
Marina Stone, Age 17, Fontana Ca
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