NO MONSTER

I believed for awhile The monster cried That it was as alone And broken inside But tears never fell Life never called And death just Stood alone No monster Just me

A FAT COW

I was in 7th grade Weighed 110 lbs I was eating lunch Minding my own When a boy called me A fat cow and mooed Enter another boy Out of nowhere I didn’t know Had never seen Who stood up for me Curly blonde hair Tall and adorable He sat next to me Said I…

THE EMPTY SPACE

We were taking pictures. It was a fun night. But with most fun nights where I was hanging out with friends the anxiety was intense. I look at this picture and I see it. That fraction of a second right before the big smile that says “life is good and I am good”. Except I…

YOU WILL BREAK… over and over again

Zumba class used to be my happy place. Several times a week I would walk into this class and I’d forget about all the hard things in my life. Fun music, people sweating and laughing. We literally looked like we had taken a group shower when we were done. It felt so good. The instructor…

MORE OR LESS

I don’t remember the first time I thought, “man I wish I could be more…”. More classy, more beautiful, more funny, more smart, more stable, more serious. I’ve lost count of how often I wished I was less messy, less emotional, less sad, less weak, less random, less awkward. Seems I’m constantly wishing I had…

THE VALUE OF A LIFE

I felt for so long I was worthless. That nobody would love someone “like me”. When I say “like me” I mean someone with low self-confidence, emotional instability, overweight, and constantly comparing myself to others. But once I got all the emotionally challenging parts of my life behind me I started to realize I actually…

#BeReal -ALISA SCHINDLER

Please welcome Alisa Schindler to #BeReal. It’s taken decades for me to really figure out what it means to be real, not because I was trying not to be, but because I didn’t know how. I spent a long time insecure and concerned with others’ perception of me. I spent a long time uncomfortable with…

UNCLEAR

So many of us have an unclear perspective of ourselves.  We can’t see what other people see.  Why?  Well… We all see things differently. For every 10 people who find me unattractive another 10 will find me average and yet another 10 will find me beautiful.  I think the trick is to practice selective listening.…

#BeReal- AMANDA HALL

My #BeReal guest today is Amanda Hall. My name is Amanda Hall, I just turned twenty-eight and I’m just now learning who the real me is and how to accept myself for who I am and to not let other people’s opinions of me stand in my way. I am by no means a writer,…

#BeReal – HASTYWORDS

Welcome to the #BeReal series! I want to showcase real people.  You will judge them.  That’s okay.  And it will be natural for you to do that.  To read all the #BeReal posts to date you can click HERE.    I put together this series because teens everywhere are jumping on this #DontJudgeMe bandwagon.  Well, I think the…