Overcoming Obstacles Shape Who We Are Today

I might have looked to the outside like I was normal and even happy. But since puberty hit a deep seated hatred of myself had been growing. Internally I was becoming homophobic and misogynistic. I related anything I was into something I hated. I felt wrong and I began to contemplate and attempt

I didn't look like the other high school girls and I didn't speak like them. I was convinced, everything the other girls had I needed and wanted in my life. My first year in high school I would sneak and wear makeup; just to look like the other girls. When I wore makeup it still didn't make me feel beautiful. The more makeup I put on the more anger I felt towards my best friend and me. Then came my sophomore year of high school. I gained weight and felt worst about myself. Not only did I not feel beautiful, now I'm fat. I tried out for my school JV volleyball team and I didn't make the team. I was a failure. Due to my lack of beauty and confidence, I was ready to give up on my dream. I was done with everything. My mother wouldn't allow me to beat myself up nor give up. She told me to "believe in myself" and "tell myself I'm beautiful every day" "you only fail when you don't try" She signed me up for volleyball clinics and eventually I went on to join a club team. I started to feel better, but I still had

When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you see a confident, smart, beautiful women or do you see someone else? Someone that you used to know, and might not ever see again. Before hitting puberty, you most likely had very few issues with your body and respected the various intricate things it does on a daily basis. Entering puberty, these ideas shifted and insecurities about your body started to filter into your mind. Instead of looking at all the wonderful things your body can do, you start to criticize it. In society today, the average female model (as unrealistic as ever) is 5’11 and 120 pounds, it is understandable why the average women feels like she is not good enough. A study completed at the American Association of University Women showed, “the way I look” is the most important indicator of self-worth in women, while for men, self-worth is centred on their abilities, and not their looks (Croll, “Body Image in Adolescents”). 66% of females are more likely to

When I was in my younger teens, all I could think about was what did people think of me and how can I not attract attention to myself. The goal in every day life was to not embarrass myself, it was a rather unfulfilling lifestyle and goal. Every day I would do my hair, trying to perfect it so I wouldn’t get made fun of. Every day I would worry to no end about embarrassment, I would be so self conscious about the smallest things. I remember one day I was made fun of for the way I did jumping jacks and I got so self conscious. Think about that, I got self conscious over jumping jacks. People don’t realize how tough the early teens are, for both genders. As a boy back then, I was experiencing lots of puberty and a lot of change in my body, this

I don’t remember ever liking my body. In my mind, there was always something wrong with it. The insecurities and distorted perspectives that I had were only exacerbated during adolescence. In the beginning of 2013, my life changed forever as I was hospitalized for anorexia nervosa. My only goal in life up to that point was to have a thigh gap, protruding collarbones, a flat stomach—I wanted to feel beautiful. And so I started calorie restricting. The girl I used to be would weigh herself every day and pray for that number to drop, watch cooking videos on terrifying foods that she would never eat, and lie to her parents so they would think she was eating. Gradually I lost weight and my family members complimented my new look. It never occurred

Overcoming an obstacle. That is a very powerful phrase. People are faced with many many obstacles everyday of their lives. There are many different ways to deal with the obstacles that come into your life. A person must have a strong mind to process the problems. Not everyone can handle what hand life deals them.

There is only one time that I can remember that I had to deal with social stigma, and it was in middle school. Fist I provide you with a bit of information in order so that you can understand better. I use to have a condition called gynecomastia until about a year or two ago when I got it fix. When boys go to puberty sometime they have too much estrogen, and this causes breast tissue to develop. This tends to go away after puberty, but for me it didn’t.

For years and years I have struggled with the way my body has looked and even the way I have looked. Numerous of times I had been depressed because I couldn't be as pretty or as skinny as the other girls. It got to the point where I hated going out in public, but if I did I would always wear a jacket and pants even on 100 degree days because I was so ashamed and disgusted in myself I didn't want anyone else to see me. It's embarrassing to say it kind of took me until now to realize that I don't need to be like the other girls. I don't need a thigh gap, straight hair, freckle free skin, and a tiny body to be happy my thick thighs, curly hair, freckles, and curvy body make me happy and is beautiful and I don't need to change a thing because people

I began to question why I was made like this. At six years old I asked a higher power, “why can’t I just be like all the other girls in my class? Why am I so ugly?” How was I supposed to overcome this newfound hate I had for myself? It was not until an episode of Spongebob Squarepants came on that prompted me to

This is a topic I’ve been thinking to cover for so long. I’m always a little insecure about my appearance, whether I’m perceived as beautiful or not. It worsened as I got older. I used to have someone telling me to get my skin lighter when it got darker, telling me I was too skinny, telling me I got chubbier when I ate more to make myself less skinny. They used to make fun of my small, slanted eyes and the way I wore my makeup.

When I was in middle school I suffered from body shaming issues. It all started when I hit puberty. I remember looking in the mirror as I was getting ready for my first day of high school and saying, "Nobody is going to like you, you are too fat." I had developed something called “Gynecomastia,” over the summer and basically, it is swollen

Many of my family and friends know about my story but for those of you that don’t and would like to..keep on reading. I had been putting a lot of though into this for quite some time but I have decided to put my story out there. I’ve got to say that this was by far one of the biggest challenges-fears I’ve had to face. I hope that this will be worth it and that my story can reach out to many and be of inspiration, and support anyone that has gone through a similar situation or someone who deals with insecurities and a negative self body image. If you guys would like to share my story that would be greatly appreciated.

During adolescence I had a critical and negative body image about myself. When I was fourteen years old I use to weigh two hundred pounds and was extremely dissatisfied with my body image because I knew I was obese. I remember that I use to hate going to the doctor because he would always remind me that I was overweight. Weeks would go by after the doctor’s visit and I would still be miserable about what the doctor had told me. I remember that I used get furious at my mom for

For the longest time I wasn't proud of how I looked. The fact that I have glasses and have loads of acne around my face, wasn't helping. I remember looking at the girls at school and wondering how they have smooth skin, and why they are so beautiful. You have no idea how many

When I was younger I was a chubby girl, with big black glasses and acne all around my face. It became even worse when I had to use an orthodontic headgear. I recall going to school, and just wanting the ground to swallow me up. Wherever I went people followed me with their stares. Walking in the hallways I could see people pointing at me, and laughing with their friends. You know what I felt? Like I didn’t belong.