I can pinpoint the exact moment I started to hate my body.

I was in class taking a test.

I was looking down at my thighs and thought to myself, “wow my legs look like a sack of potatoes.”

I skipped dinner that night.

I was six.

I can pinpoint the exact moment I started to hate my face.

I was waiting in line on picture day.

I was looking in the small mirror they had and wondered why I wasn’t as beautiful as the other girls in my class.

I cried in my pillow that night.

I was ten.

I can pinpoint the exact moment I started to hate my personality.

I was walking to the shuttle bus that would take me home.

I was listening to music when a “friend” told me that a boy thought I too crazy to date.

I stopped talking unless spoken too.

I was twelve.

I can pinpoint the exact moment I started to change the way I presented myself.

I was walking to gym class at the end of the day.

I was talking to someone when a boy told me to stop “looking and acting so manly.”

I started wearing makeup and girly clothing.

I was fourteen.

I can pinpoint the exact moment I first fell in love.

I was sitting across the room from him in drawing class.

I was mesmerised by his perfect blue eyes.

I started curling my hair and talking to him everyday until he grew bored of me.

I was fifteen.

I can pinpoint the exact moment I realized what “growing up” entailed.

I was at my volleyball game keeping stats while out with an injury.

I was the interest of the announcer man in his forties.

I was terrified when he told me he wanted my hair and really liked my butt in my jeans.

I started to cover up more, and talk to boys less.

I was sixteen.

I can pinpoint the exact moment I realized some friendships aren’t meant to last.

I was alone in my room, late one night.

I was crying over the words you sent me via text telling me I wasn’t shit.

I started pushing real friends away and becoming more and more sad.

I was seventeen.

I can pinpoint the exact moment I realized I was severely depressed.

I was alone, staring at my ceiling while listening to music.

I stopped eating, sleeping, and being anywhere other than my room.

I was worried only hospitalization could fix me from what happened.

I started being put on many different antidepressants.

I was eighteen.

I can pinpoint the exact moment I realized none of the listed things mattered.

I was dancing and singing in my dorm room to my favorite song.

I was thinking about all these thoughts I had growing up.

I was laughing that I even thought these thing and let them consume me.

I started being truly happy and taking control of my life.

I am nineteen.

Make your change sooner rather than later, your future self with thank you endlessly for it.