I used to be self-conscious about my appearance, but in the opposite manner than most.

I'm very fortunate to have the genetics that I do, but I wanted to be more than that. Almost nobody seemed to give a damn about me as a person, and only admired me for my appearance. Being showered in compliments over the years about almost nothing else other than my physical appearance quickly made me jaded to it, and I began to feel that this was all I have. No talents, no personality, no intelligence.. just a figure and face that people liked to look at. I felt objectified for a long time.

I sat down after school one Friday during my senior year with our high school's home economics teacher to talk about my performance in her classes both current and ever the years (I took A LOT of home economics classes during my time in high school) and to vent a little bit about how I was feeling about some of my recent work, while also explaining how I would apply all that I learned in her classes to my adult life. When I was preparing to leave, she stopped me and told me that I was a very exceptional student and that I had a lot of potential in becoming a very strong and independent woman, and that almost no other students in her over 20+ years of teaching made her feel that way to the extent that I did.

I was speechless, but I managed to utter a quiet and weak "thank you, see you on Monday" before leaving her classroom. Of course I couldn't help but tear up a bit afterwards, and it was the first time in my entire life that I felt somebody had seriously looked beyond what was on the outside and saw something on the inside that had value.