It seems totally unfair that the way we look matters so much. I mean, why can't we just get over this gotta-be-thin-and-beautiful thing? Why can't we just accept ourselves and others for what we are?

To the casual observer it looks like I have moved on since I go around wearing my little happy mask all day. I smile and laugh and carry on like my heart's still in one piece, but beneath it all, I am dying.

But fear is confusing. It tears you in two. Half of you wants to run far, far away, but the other half is paralyzed, frozen, immovable. And the hard part is that you never know which half is going to win.

It takes a good habit to replace a bad habit.

Girls can be so petty and jealous. I swear they're worse than guys sometimes. Except they're all quiet about it. They sugarcoat it or else they talk behind each other's backs. It's seriously twisted.

Shut off the internal bashing.

I welcome each new day with a hopeful expectancy that I, too, will rise above the ordinary. For I am not content to live a merely 'normal' life or settle for an average existence. No, I am destined for more - much, much more.