Finding happiness

Glancing in the changing room mirror, my legs really stood out compared to the petite girls in my class.

After eight years of Irish dance training, I had a muscular frame.

And at just 13, I stood higher than the rest of my friends, at 5ft 8in, I became very self-conscious.

‘You stand out because you’re so much bigger than us,’ a pupil shouted at me during lunchtime.

Although it wasn’t meant in a nasty way, I was embarrassed and I wasn’t thinking straight.

Hating the way that I looked, something just clicked inside of me.

I knew that I wasn’t overweight, but I thought if I could slim down a little, my muscles wouldn’t stick out as much.

Over the next few days, I couldn’t stop thinking about how I looked.

When I stared in the mirror, I was filled with doubt.

To try and turn my mind to something positive, I would exhaust myself by exercising.