Look at Special K! :)   This is really sweet!

As a teenager, I used to be involved with numerous sports until the persistent pain in my knee worsened and my idea of playing sports in college withered.

Entering college, I was still fit and trim, but working out was no longer an option because my knee pain persisted. The pain worsened over the years leaving me incapacitated during my senior year of college. That cold winter in college, I could not walk. I literally could not walk. I had to endure the pain by forcing myself to walk around campus in the cold, unploughed roads of Buffalo. No pain reliever could take away the pain. I thought I was going to lose my leg. I thought it was fathom pain but it certainly wasn't.

Along the years leading to my senior year, I partied, occasionally I worked out - putting little exertion on my knees. However, post college, I felt inadequate. That I had gained "so much weight" (in others eyes it was a little weight gain - but in mine it was excessive). Nonetheless, the picture of who I was as a teenager will always cross my memory. That plus my teenage acne that had progressed in my adulthood steered me towards a body dysmorphic disorder. Although I was an athlete in high-school and had plenty of friends (even in college - I did not let my introverted persona deter me), I still hated going out, hated making new friends, and always felt conscious. I was not loving myself and it was eating me.

I want to let all the young girls out there, that it gets better. Never let what the media projects, or what is made to seem a standard of beauty hinder you. Although I am accomplished - I worked in NYC for a year, finished my Bachelors degree, and now pursuing my Masters degree in London - I feel that I could have done much more only if I had not withheld myself. I would not state that I do not get down at times - I do.