My Mental Wellness Improved Through My Self AcceptanceWhen I was around 13 or 14 years old, I remember routinely taking one of my older sister’s black eyeliner pencils before school every morning. I’d arrive early so that I could slip away to the girl’s bathroom to apply a single black line to my eyelids. My parents didn’t allow me to wear any makeup at the time. Although this smudgy line on my eyelids didn’t make me look all that much different, I never felt comfortable at school without it. My teenage mind convinced myself that I needed some sort of cosmetic symbol in order to appropriately express my femininity. Up until that point in my life, society had told girls that looked like me - tall, Black, and with kinky hair - that we somehow weren’t as beautiful as the other girls. For far too long, I believed it too.
4 DAYS AGO
