Feeling comfortable in my body isn't entirely about beauty standards. It is not entirely about ideals. It's about how I feel in my skin and bones, from one day to the next.

I am determined to be more than my body—what my body has endured, what my body has become. Determination, though, has not gotten me very far.

I could easily become a shut-in, hiding from the cruelty of the world. Most days it takes all my strength and no small amount of courage to get dressed and leave the house.

There were a great many people in my own life who saw my body before they ever saw or considered me.

I found ways to hide in plain sight, to keep feeding a hunger that could never be satisfied - the hunger to stop hurting.