Social exclusion/rejection.

I have a genetic condition that makes me look very different from other women: very fat, masculine, hairy, balding, scarred, you name it. I was viciously bullied in my teens and my peers would have nothing to do with me, no matter how kind to them I was.

Hopeful teenage-me believed someday a man would appear and love me romantically and prove to my peers how wrong they were to shun me. I listened to romantic music and daydreamed constantly about it. My parents were aware of my belief and, while they didn’t encourage it, they didn’t try to dispel it either. (I think they genuinely thought medical science might be able to transform me at some point in the future? IDK.)

Middle aged now. The daydreaming was a phase, but, unfortunately, I have never even been on a date, let alone been swept off my feet by some fantasy prince. Sometimes the greatest struggles we face involve coming to grips with the limitations our lives and bodies place upon us. My life is pretty good in some ways, even if it will always be a solitary one.