Personal Narrative: The Beginning Of Middle School

The end of middle school and the beginning of high school is when everyone is typically getting their braces off, right? Wrong. For me, sophomore year marked the beginning of my braces journey, which I am still currently on. This may not seem like the most challenging situation in the world but getting braces at this time was kind of rough. I was ridiculed, most likely without the intentions to be hurtful, but nonetheless it still effected my already fragile self esteem. I didn't talk as much, I stopped grinning goofily in photos, and I often found myself covering my mouth every time I laughed. Essentially I had reverted back into this shell. I don't know exactly when and what it was that made me realize that I shouldn't be ashamed of having
braces at 14/15 but I just stopped caring about the comments like "oh..you still have those?" or "man i remember when i had braces.....4 years ago". Now as a senior, I have regained my confidence, I'm not afraid to talk people's ears off, I laugh so obnoxiously, and most importantly, my big ol' goofy grin is back. Yeah sure, I'm 17 with braces, but I have never felt better about myself. Having nice teeth isn't so bad either, definitely worth the price of being the victim of everyones teasing. If I were to do anything differently, it would be to embrace my braces sooner than I did.