Assignment 7- Narrative Essay: Certain experiences mark the beginning of maturity

I was born with something called atopic dermatitus, also known as eczema. Growing up, it never occured to me that I was different than other children, I was who I was and I believed that eczema made me Me. I was included by others; as long as you could play tag you were in the group. As I began to grow older, and started school, it only became worse and I realized that I looked different than others and they saw me as that. My parents told me that I was special, just in who I was, and that there was a reason for why it was me this had happened to, but I didn't beleive them.

When I was 11 my family and I moved to Pentiction . By the teen years my eczema started to worsen and my parents began to send me to a local dermatologist. The dermatologist had never seen a case as bad as mine so he immediatly sent me to one in Kelowna, who almost couldn't handle it himself. Treatement didn't work; the dermatologists couldn't uncover what was triggering my breakouts and told me that it was something I was going to live with. In grade nine I was excited to start high school in a new place but I was only stared at as others wondered what was wrong with me. I began to become very insecure and felt I needed to cover up with jeans and heavy hoodies. In the summer I would rarely go to the beach, and when I did I was stopped and asked by people if I had been attacked by an animal or fallen into a rasberry bush.

I began to believe that outward beauty meant everything and felt it was something I was definetly lacking. As time carried on I decided to become home schooled, as the dermatologist thought it may be stress that made it worse. As I grew older and began to mature and find myself, I realized that it doesn't matter what people think of you and you are only wasting time worrying about what others are saying or thinking. It was when I came to that point of confidence in myself when my eczema went away. Dermatologists say it was something I just grew out of, I also belive it was something that happened to make me a strong, confident person.

Through my experience I have learned not to care what others think of me and I can now understand others with insecurities and problems. Right now I teach a girl's group called "Beautiful Girl" for middle school girls where we learn the importance of inner beauty and self confidence. I am glad that this experience has happened to me because I have matured so much through it and it has made me confident in who I am and that is something that nothing can take away.