“‘If Rico calls you nasty again, I want you to tell him, ‘Rico, you are strong; Rico, you are brave; Rico, you are smart; Rico, you are kind. Just like me. I am NOT nasty, and neither are you.’ Adi, sometimes when people are mean, they’re just not happy with themselves.’”
‘Rico called me nasty!’ She’s only FOUR. I remember that exact moment. I remember trying to be small, to disappear.’: Mom helps daughter through bullying, ‘I’m changing the narrative for her’
‘Mom asked, ‘Will boys find you attractive?’ But I wasn’t a boy OR a girl. I acted feminine to avoid bullying.’: Non-binary person shares journey, ‘I want my body to feel like mine’
“I destroyed all my relationships because I was living a lie. ‘Will people think I’m a freak?’ I wanted to be proud of who I was.”
‘You won’t make it through the night.’ I was scared to close my eyes. ‘FIGHT HARDER!’ I told myself.’: Two-time cancer survivor becomes model, ‘I was determined to get ME back’
“I told myself, ‘It’s just 8 hours, you got this. You feel no pain!’ I was pumped with meds but NOTHING was working. Seeing the look on my parents’ faces, I knew I couldn’t give up.”
‘We noticed wobbling in his eyes. My denial turned to heartbreak. ‘I can’t believe I passed on my problems.’: Woman learns to embrace blindness in herself and son, ‘I can guide him through life’
“‘No kids would want a blind mom!’ My husband told me not to worry, we’d do things differently, and would solve problems as they came. I assumed being a mom and wife was unreachable. He taught me differently.”
‘Unfortunately, you weren’t accepted.’ Everyone made jokes about me. ‘It’s because she’s FAT.’ My heart dropped.’: Young woman shares self-love journey, ‘I am worthy’
“’I know why you didn’t get in. They told us.’ My heart sank. ‘They didn’t think you’d be able to do physical activity.’ I was the only one who didn’t. It opened my eyes.”
‘How can ‘I’ be gay?’ Gay guys have great hair, creamy skin, and abs. I had a HUGE belly hanging over my pants.’: Gay man learns body acceptance, ‘Being plus-sized doesn’t define me’
“Nothing fit right. My mom brought me to the ‘husky’ section. ‘What does husky mean?’ She said, ‘It’s for boys like you.’ BOOM. There it was. It wasn’t what she said. It was how she said it, in an almost hush, as if it was something embarrassing to be discussed.”
‘You’re going to be a dad.’ He towered over me and the world stopped. I was ‘that girl’ at 18.’: Teen mom beats odds, creates beautiful family, ‘They became my happily ever after’
“‘Babies shouldn’t have babies!’ We were just 2 kids, living on minimum wage, trying to prove ourselves in a world which had already branded us failures.”
‘You are too old and foolish to think this boy loves YOU.’ The nurses kept a close eye on us.’: Gay couple marries, has child, ‘’We’ve shattered the idea conventional wisdom is always correct’
“I wasn’t an old troll looking for boys to feed my fancy, and he wasn’t out looking for a rich old man.”
‘How could this be happening AGAIN?’ My heart couldn’t handle it.’: After near-death experience, mom welcomes daughter with spina bifida
“‘She’ll likely never walk and she may have brain damage.’ She gently offered termination. But we wanted to raise a strong, independent, and confident daughter. We had a PLAN.”
‘Just enough fat.’ He grabbed my stomach. ‘No one else will want you.’ He wanted to keep me in a box.’: Woman promotes body positivity, ‘Take control over how you see yourself’
“I tried to pull the pants up, and they wouldn’t go over my calves. She mocked me, saying I couldn’t fit in anything in the store.”