Middle and high school were rough for me. It’s not that I was bullied, I had friends. It’s not that I had bad grades, I did fine. It’s that I always had a feeling I wasn’t presenting on the outside who I felt I was inside. I was always a little overweight and never found a way of getting myself in shape to feel more confident. And I could never believe that a girl would find me attractive, truly.
Instead of going to college like everyone else in my uppity suburb, I took time off. I thought a big risk would help shake me out of my complacency and malaise. My parents were very skeptical, but because I promised I’d go eventually, they didn’t fight me too hard on it.