Today I found all of my yearbooks since I was in kindergarden and I coudln't help but look through them. I was a really cute kindergardener... I stayed pretty cute through 4th grade, too. But then the awkward stage began. I got chubby. REALLY chubby. Then my eye sight started to go and I was a four-eyed freak. 7th grade was the worst. I was even chubbier, still four-yed, had a bad haircut, was a horrible dresser, and to top it all off, I started to get pretty bad acne. I'm going to come right out and say it... I was a pretty ugly kid. Most kids go through awkward stages. Some kids have really geeky glasses, and others have holiday colored rubber bands on their braces. (Did any of you do that? I never had braces, so I never got to decorate my mouth for Halloween and Christmas. I was so deprived.) But honestly, my awkward stage was bad. If you looked at my 6th and 7th grade yearbooks, I bet you wouldn't even be able to pick me out. (Luckily I've changed considerably since then.) But it was hard to be so awkward looking because I was never comfortable in my own skin. I knew I was fat, I knew I wasn't very pretty, and I was so shy around boys that I wouldn't even tell my best friend if I had a crush. I was devastated when I didn't get invited to a birthday party, and it hurt even more when I was the last kid picked in gym class. Sometimes I felt invisible. During the summer between 7th and 8th grade I lost all of my "baby fat" (aka about 20 pounds), got contacts, went to the dermatologist to clear my face up, and got a great new haircut at the salon. I to school on the first day of 8th grade and no one recognized me. Kids that I had been going to school with since kindergarden thought I was new and introduced themselves to me. I would just smile at them and walk away, hoping that they would figure it out on their own. But it wasn't just my looks that changed... I had brand new self-confidence to go with it. When I looked in the mirror, I liked what I saw. Hell, I was pretty damn cute. Feeling good about the way I looked made me feel good all around. I got a little strut in my step, my self confidence soared, and I quickly became the queen bee amongst my friends. When I got a crush, I didn't just tell my best friend... I told the whole school. When there was a birthday party, you better believe that I got an invitation. I was a new person. Funny how much a summer makeover can change your life, isn't it? For so long I thought that the reason that people started to accept me more was because I was prettier. It took me several years to realize that it wasn't the shedding of a few pounds and a haircut that changed me... it was my attitude. I was happier with myself and because of it, I let myself shine. Sure, my looks changed... but it was me all along. I just had to break out of my shell and feel comfortable in my own skin.