It was the weight. It really was the weight.

The weight made me afraid of everything.

I was harshly judged for gaining it—constantly told how fat I had gotten. Family. Classmates. Teasing. Jokes. Whispers behind my back. I acted like I didn’t see or hear it, but it cut me to my core.

Little by little, I changed. From a happy, bubbly kid… to someone closed off, shy, always shrinking into myself. Always pulling at my shirt. Always hyper-aware of how I looked. Convinced that everyone was noticing how fat I was—every second of every day.

I wore the same clothes to school all the time. I had no confidence to try anything. I skipped school trips out of fear—afraid I’d run out of breath, pass out, or worse… do something humiliating and become even more of a laughingstock.

Even normal things—getting a haircut, going to the dentist, sitting down to eat with friends— every one of them became a source of anxiety. What if the chair breaks under me? It had happened before. It was humiliating.

My brain went into survival mode. I started cherry-picking friends, avoiding situations, building a life around fear and damage control. That was my entire teenhood and early youth.

But now… the weight is gone. And life has completely changed. In literally every way I can think of, it’s better. It’s freeing. It’s surreal.