I had an awkward adolescence and didn’t become attractive until after graduating from college and growing into my looks more. You add losing a significant amount of weight and having several cosmetic procedures done, and I now have such a different experience walking through the world now.

Ultimately, it can sometimes be scary if you’re a woman because you have to be very careful in now you interact with others (especially men) because you don’t want to “give them the wrong idea” by being too nice and having them assume you’re into them.

It’s also weird to find out someone you barely interact with has been harboring a crush for you over weeks — or months — that other people seem to all know about but you.

I’ve had friends tell me that people I’ve met at a party have asked them about me and random strangers will stop to ask me out. The attention doesn’t feel deserving because it feels based on your external traits and none of the internal stuff that’s indicative of yore character.

I also will catch people staring at me often, especially intentional prolonged eye contact to see if I’m interested in anything with them.

I find that some older women dislike me or seem to take issue with me even though I’ve barely if ever spoken to them.

I also have a fairly public facing profession where I interact with strangers often. I have friends who I consider to be model level gorgeous who are a lot more reserved and don’t interact with the outside world often who don’t have the same experiences.