Graduation Dress

 Today, I tried on graduation dresses. 


And despite what I would have assumed a year ago, my first thought wasn't about my body, or how the dress looked on me. My eyes didn't go directly to my stomach, my arms, or my hips. My eyes just- stared. Not anywhere in particular, but at me. Because I looked beautiful.


"I look beautiful."


It was such a surreal moment. Not just because it hit me that after this year I'm done high school (even though it still feels like I'm in grade 9), but because if I'm being completely honest, I didn't plan on making it this far. As a child, I envisioned a future for myself, but that began to fade during my teenage years as I became more and more engulfed in my disordered thoughts. To the point where I decided to stop trying, in everything. I gave up. But man, I am SO glad I didn't.


Because now, I get to graduate with my best friends. I get to go to university and go into a career that can help people like me. I can attend exchange programs, and meet one of my closest friends (if you're reading this, you know who you are). I get to start teaching at a brand new dance studio. I get to have a fresh start, and I get to decide how I go about that. My illness doesn't control me!


Something as simple as a grad dress can mean the entire world to someone else. Because maybe, it represents something bigger than themselves, something that shows how far they've come. Whatever your "grad dress" may be, may it remind you that your life, no matter how difficult and no matter how much you've gone through, is still worth living and always will be.


Be kind to people, you don't know what they're going through.


♡ Saige

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