MY FIRST BLOG POST- 2014 Flashback

My very first blog post; written 2nd May 2014.
Growing up without being able to grow. 

Teenage life is never easy but living in a world built for people twice my size brings extra challenges. My form of dwarfism Achondroplasia means that at just 3ft 11, I am much shorter than my friends, family and classmates.  It wasn't till I was reaching the end of my second year in primary school that I started to notice the extent of the size difference between myself and my classmates. As they grew it was becoming apparent that I wasn't. I remember going home asking my mum why. As you can imagine it was a hard question to answer for my mum and like any six year old, I wasn't quite sure what I was being told. No matter how many times I got told, no matter how many times it was explained, it never quite sunk in. Why was I different? And why was no one else different? By the time I reached the age of 9, I was well aware of my size and my condition however it was something that never got mentioned, even in my family it wasn't something that got talked about, In a way, I saw that as a positive. My family saw me as me and so did my friends but as my time at primary school was coming to an end, I started to wonder what people like me were going through. Did people like me even exist? 

21 life lessons in my 21 years

1. Not everyone you meet is going to treat you nicely. But that should never stop you from being nice. You never know, it might rub off on them, and if not, it says more about them than it does you. 

2. Life will always throw spanners in the works; usually, just at the moment you feel your masterpiece is coming together. But just like you have done a thousand times before; you'll work this out too. 

Bitter VS Better

From a young age, I have clear memories of being shamed for my body image and size. From the innocence of my reception classmates saying I “looked funny”..... to the 15-year-olds shouting “freak” down the secondary school corridors. Be it right or not, I guess you can say “I’m used to it”, so more times than not I brush it off... cold shoulder, because frankly there are not enough hours in the day to give attention to every person who stares at you as you walk down the street, I’ve mastered the brave face. But that doesn’t mean I always want to use it. I don't always want to say I'm used to it...