I haven't always been overweight. I was relatively thin until I got to middle school when i started struggling with a lot of depression and anxiety. My newest bad habit was stress eating instead of dealing with my issues. In less than six months my weight skyrocketed from 100 to 164 pounds. For a middle school girl just starting to go through puberty, this was devastating. I spent years hating myself entirely and thinking I was ugly simply because I was overweight. Plot twist, I'm still overweight but I don't care what anyone else thinks of me. My worth is not found in a number on a scale.

Something I've found funny when people do try to insult me about my weight is that's the only insult they have to throw at me and shows how minuscule their vocabulary really is. You're not the first person to call me fat and you won't be the last. The word "fat" is an adjective. Therefore, I am not fat- it is just one part of me. I’ve struggled with my weight for about half of my life, so I haven’t just dealt with the opinions of others, I deal with my opinion of myself daily. This pretty much makes me immune to anything you could say about me because I promise you I’ve been more vicious to myself.

After many years I’ve redirected my focus away from my weight to make myself into the best version of me that I can be. Instead of numbers on a scale, I try to see how many people I can make happy throughout the day. The key to making your world a little more positive is surrounding yourself with people who aren’t concerned with what you look like or what you can give them. Find people who want to bring you up and make you happy because they will be the ones you can collapse into when you have a bad day. My weight doesn’t define me and you shouldn’t let it define you either.