I stood and looked in my full length mirror. I struggled to find one quality that I admired about myself: my face had gotten too round, I sucked at doing my makeup, I barely knew how to style my hair, I had entirely too many freckles, and everything I ate seemed to go straight to my waist. I picked myself apart piece by piece until I was standing looking at my reflection thinking that I was totally worthless. I tried to muster up some courage as I got dressed to go to class. I pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind as I drove down the highway belting out Taylor Swift songs and car dancing. As I walked to class, I sent Snapchats to my friends trying to plan out what we were going to do that weekend. My mood was starting to pick up a little, but it didn't last long.

As I rounded the corner to get to the building my class was in, I saw a group of people sitting at a picnic table. They were playing music, laughing, and throwing french fries at each other. I smiled to myself as I thought about my own friends who went to different universities and how much I missed them. Before I had managed to take a few steps, I heard, "Is it a girl?" I stopped in my tracks. I turned my head to the guy that had asked the question and said, "I'm sorry?" Then in front of the entire group of people sitting behind him, he asked me, "Are you having a boy or a girl?" The crowd of his friends behind him had gone quiet waiting to hear my answer. I was shell-shocked; I felt like I had just gotten punched in the gut, this stranger had mistaken my too large waist as a baby bump. With all my dignity shattered, I said barely above a whisper, "I'm not pregnant." I could hear his friends beginning to laugh and mutter things about me. I stood there wishing that I could run straight to my car and go home and just forget about what had just happened. I felt so disgusted with myself I started to walk as fast as I could away from the group of people that now saw me as a fat girl.

I made it to the building that my class was in, and I went straight to the bathroom. I was so embarrassed of myself that I locked myself inside a stall and started to cry. Tears streamed silently down my face as girls came in and out of the bathroom oblivious to the fat girl crying in the stall. I stayed there for a few minutes, and then I thought to myself "You don't get to do this right now." I tried to pull myself together and went to class. I copied notes and listened to my teacher's lecture, but I didn't learn a single thing. I felt numb. I left class and drove in silence to my boyfriend's house. He wrapped me in a hug as soon as I got there and told me, "I think you're wonderful and beautiful. Screw that guy." He even told me that he would track the guy down and punch him right in the face, and I have to admit that made me feel a little better even though I'm considered somewhat of a pacifist. I left his house later on and went to bed without eating, thinking that I needed to lose weight and could go without a meal. In the morning, I avoided looking at myself in the mirror as I got ready for class. I made my way to the childcare center I work at twice a week. I told myself to focus on only these sweet children today. As I walked into the classroom, one of the children jumped up from where she was playing and ran to me giving me a bone crushing hug. "Miss. Kaleigh! I missed you so much." The thing inside of me that had broken seemed to snap back into place. I wasn't worthless, disgusting, or 'the fat girl." I was the source of someone's happiness if only for a moment and that counted for something.

After I left the center, I told myself that I was going to stop avoiding mirrors. I was exactly who I was supposed to be.That guy was totally wrong for calling me out like that., but I couldn't let what he'd said to me change how I felt about myself. I was intelligent, caring, and fiercely independent. Self-worth is defined by how you feel about yourself. I truly hope that you think you're amazing, because I have decided that I am.