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My Horrible First Babysitter
She was the stereotypical Jamaican, dreads and all. I was 3 and my brother was 1. After a while, it was time for lunch. As she was feeding my brother, he started getting full, rejecting each spoon full. Angrily, the sitter proceeds to shove his spoon down his throat almost choking him to death. Witnessing this, I ran upstairs and called my mom. Once my mom got home she was fired of course. Ever since then, I was always skeptical of each babysitter who would come to watch my brother and I. -
First Day in a New School
I'm black, so I stuck out like a sore thumb all I wanted was to fit in. I sat down at a table closest to the teacher's desk. Until a girl, with the prettiest, longest hair came up to me. We quickly became friends. Midway through our conversation, some boy came up to me saying "Your braids look weird. You look like Medusa" I began feeling vulnerable, crying into my hands. She quickly interjected with insults until he ran away crying. I look up at her. "What? Nobody messes with my best friend." -
Taking Risks, Taking a Fall
Fourth grade. That's when my personality started to show. I liked to take risks. At recess, I decided to go on the highest swing on the swingset because I figured it'd be fun. It kind of alarmed me because of how high the swing was compared to the others, but I didn't care. I hopped on and started swinging. "I'm gonna swing the highest! Na nana poo p-" All of the sudden the chain holding up the swing snapped as I went flying 10 feet into the air eventually plummeting to the ground butt first. -
Getting My Ego Checked
The Spring Concert was among us. Every year they choose one kid in the chorus to sing a solo for the concert. During this time, I thought that I was "the best singer in the world". Auditions came around, the choir teacher said that we can audition alone or with a friend. I wanted to audition by myself but my friend did not. Since I'm a good friend I decided to be her plus one. We didn't practice at all, so I didn't get the solo. I felt like I failed myself and that absolutely crushed my ego. -
6th Grade, 1st Crush
First, I started seeing him as a friend first. But then, I started to have feelings for him. My feelings confused me. I figured that I'd tell him and he'd become my boyfriend like in the Disney Channel shows. That wasn't the case. Instead of excepting it and moving on, I started to ask him out again and again until I started spreading rumors saying that we were dating. He then found out, and then the whole school knew me as the creepy girl obsessed with her crush. Yeah embarrassing. -
Discovering my Passion
7th grade was the year where I started taking my craft seriously. I took voice lessons, did the school musicals etc in order to become a better singer. My voice teacher told me to do NYSSMA (Which is a professional organization that evaluates student musicians). If scored well you get to go on to perform at the All-County Festival. So, I did it and got a good score. Later that year I got chosen for the All-County Festival. After that, I felt like singing wasn't just a hobby, it was my passion. -
The Day he Ran Away
Ever since I was 10, I had a dog. His name was Skipper. Whenever I had a bad day at school he would always be there to make me feel better. Yes, I loved him. but I wasn't good at taking care of him. Which would, of course, upset my parents. One day I came home, and he wasn't there. Later, someone found him on the street somewhere in town. I begged my parents to take him back home. They refused because they thought that I didn't deserve a dog. I felt like a failure never to own a dog again. -
Weight Gain
8th grade wasn't great. All because of food. That's right, food. Whenever I felt stressed about an upcoming test or project I would turn to food. I would turn to food even when I was bored. Sooner or later, it started to catch up with me. By the end of 8th grade, I was 170 pounds. I gained 20 pounds. My freshman year, I weighed a whopping 197 pounds. I felt like a failure. Depression started to settle in. I began to think that, I didn't deserve a place on this earth because of my weight. -
Gaining Confidence
After learning that I was overweight, I figured that I'd take matters into my own hands and try to lose the weight. My mom took me to a nutritionist and they gave us a meal plan and diet pills to go along with them. I would daily eat small portions of food. Yes, it wasn't easy but I pushed through because I had my eye on the finish line never looking back. After a month and a half, I went for my last consultation. I lost 30 pounds! My confidence was back and better than ever. -
Self Love
After I lost all the weight I started to realize that I shouldn't waste my life on hating my appearance. Yes, I lost weight but I thought I was still ugly in the face because of my acne. Of course, I covered it up with makeup. But, after going to the dermatologist for my skin, I finally started to see a change. My acne was clearing up more and more. I started to wear makeup less and less. I started to find the lighter side of things and figured out that self-love is the best love.
