Dear Boys,

You probably don't remember me, which makes this even worse. I haven't seen you since graduation and we haven't spoken since the 8th grade, but while I am most likely a distant memory to you, you're all still a very clear one in my mind. This letter is very long over due, but that is only because I hadn't worked up the strength to write it. This letter is all the things I wish I could have had the courage to say to you in my younger years, but now is better than never.

I know I wasn't the most "attractive" girl in your eyes; I hadn't learned how to properly take care of my frizzy curls and the braces plus glasses were just the icing on the cake. I didn't look like the girls you all would find yourselves hanging around and it took me a while to grow out of my awkward phase (if we're being honest here, I am still working my way out of it).

However, while going through early adolescence is hard enough, there were things that you boys did that were not needed. Hearing the words "fat" during lunch time wasn't a great way to spend my free period. Being told "you're ugly," every day, right to my face, wasn't an ideal learning environment. I was very aware of the pointing and laughing that would happen when I would walk into class, so I don't think it is a big surprise to you all when I say that my self-esteem was at an all-time low.

Although most of these events happened during my preteens, your words of hate stuck with me until my young adult years. I went through school feeling unworthy of love, because I was left with this idea that a girl had to be "pretty" to deserve love - that if I was your definition of "ugly," I would never find happiness. I spent my teens obsessing over my appearance, constantly comparing myself to other girls around me, poisoning my own thoughts and feelings toward myself. I hated myself for not looking the way that you thought I should.

I wish I had the mindset back then to know your words were wrong. But those are your preteens; we are vulnerable, trying to find ourselves, and when others around us are defining who we are, we often cling to those words that are said to us, adapting them to who we think we are, rather than who we actually are. You boys left me with a broken mindset, a skewed and twisted image of how the world looks toward girls and their features. You left me with a horribly wrong definition of what "beautiful" means.

Now, I can say without a doubt that while your words broke me as a child, they made me stronger as an adult. While this letter is directed to you, it is also for all the girls (and the boys) that are called "ugly" or "unattractive" because they don't fit a particular group of people's expectations. The truth is that we are all beautiful. I don't need the love and approval from another person to be considered beautiful. The only person's love and acceptance I need is from myself. My only regret is that I wish it hadn't taken me this long to realize.

Sincerely,

The Ugly Duckling that was always a Beautiful Swan