• One mean comment in middle school shaped my self-image for decades. • Even in my 20s and 30, I couldn't see my beauty. • In my 50s, I finally embraced my body and confidence.

In middle school, I was the textbook definition of awkward: braces, acne, a bad perm, and a body I didn't know how to dress or love. I was uncomfortable in my skin, and I'm sure everyone noticed.

One afternoon in the hallway, a boy looked directly at me and said, loudly and confidently, that I was the "ugliest thing" he had ever seen. It wasn't whispered. It wasn't subtle. It was a declaration — and one that hit with the force of truth to my seventh-grade brain.

I froze. I remember my chest tightening, my face going hot, and wishing I could disappear into the lockers. I walked to class pretending not to care,

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