I have never been a thin person. Even as a child, I always had softer edges and a bit of tummy. Thankfully, I spent the majority of childhood and early adolescence blissfully unaware of my appearance. As I got older, I slowly became more away of myself; perhaps much later than most of my peers — I've always been a late bloomer. For me, it probably happened around the eighth grade when I "grew boobs over the summer." (Middle schoolers are not known for having tact.) I was suddenly aware of the way other people looked at me and the way that I looked at myself. I started noticing how I looked in pictures next to my thinner friends. I wanted to wear the clothes I saw my favorite celebrities wearing, but when I tried them on, they didn't hang on me quite right. It bothered me, but I tried not to let it get the best of me.