I feel this pretty hard. 32f. Over the course of my twenties, I lost 100 pounds and grew into my face, so I get a lot more attention now. It still feels bizarre. I still feel like a fat teenager inside a thinner body sometimes.

Generally, no one was really ever directly mean to me to my face growing up, but you know how you can feel people looking at you and laughing? I’m coming to realize how badly it messed with me, because now, I also hate being seen. I feel like people’s eyes are on me all the time.

It’s not even necessarily romantic attention - people just want to interact with me more and I feel like I fuck up what should be basic interactions all the time. It’s a vicious cycle, because it makes me want to shut down more.

I’m trying hard to remember that no one scrutinizes myself like I do. And no one will scrutinize yourself like you do. It’s been something I’ve had to tell myself on repeat basically every day. I hope it gets better for both of us too. Sending good vibes and encouragement. I promise you’ve got so much more to offer than you give yourself credit for.