Today I ran into an old acquaintance, her husband, friends, and a few family members. A few minutes later, I went to the bathroom and realized that she and her friends had also walked in. Without realizing I was inside one stall, she started calling me fat, unattractive, ugly, high maintenance, and an attention seeker. One of her friends told her to shut up if she has nothing nice to say and that someone might hear her. However, she continued and ended her talk questioning why her brother-in-law was interested in me when I am so fat and ugly–way out of his league.
All my life, I know that I am not on the attractive side. I had both boys and girls calling me fat, ugly, and unattractive. While I have become immune to this, it made me stronger because I realized that while I do lack all the qualities in the beauty and physical appearance department. My strengths consist of all their weaknesses: persistence, endurance, intelligence, and courage. So if wearing this outfit, getting my hair and nail done after consecutive weeks of stress makes me ugly, unattractive, high maintenance, and attention seeker, then so be it. Finally, instead of waiting until they left, I went out, and they were surprised to see me. I purposely washed my hands at the sink beside them as they fixed their hair and reapplied their lipsticks. Before I left, I told her that if she ever needed help to pick out an outfit, someone to do her hair, makeup, and nails, she can always ask me because I will do it for a reasonable price.
The story between this acquaintance and me was that we were once friends. During our young days in middle school and high school, I let her poke fun at my clothing choice and weight because I thought it would never affect me. Eventually, I reached a breaking point and broke off our friendship after I confronted her that I did not appreciate the way she judged my appearance. I was afraid of losing a friend I had known for a long time, but I had no reasons to be afraid because I had other friends who appreciated me for who I am. Also, along the way I found people who were worthy to be called my friends.
MaiMai 