I know this may sound strange coming from someone who looks the way I do today... But I didn’t always. I was painfully thin for much of my life. I remember being picked on. I remember feeling so undesirable. I remember what it feels like to be discarded.

And because I remember those things, I want to tell you something: You deserve to feel beautiful; I don’t care what you look like. You deserve to celebrate your body. You deserve to be desired, cherished, and loved.

And you deserve to be valued for who you are—not simply what you look like.

One of the great tragedies of modern life is that so many don't believe that they are.