I’m farther along in life’s journey, age-wise, and while I have made a lot of progress I can’t deny that body image is still an issue. This is something that everyone who sees me from the outside has trouble understanding; my dimensions are absolutely standard, and I know darn well I’m lucky to have this body, and I’m much nicer to it than I was in my youth.

But if you’ve been judged or criticized or teased, or all three, when you’re an adolescent, as I was and as you were, it takes continual practice to overcome the internalized toxic voice.

I salute you.