{"id":19023,"date":"2024-09-25T07:46:25","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T07:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=19023"},"modified":"2024-09-25T07:46:25","modified_gmt":"2024-09-25T07:46:25","slug":"from-awkward-to-confident-a-journey-of-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=19023","title":{"rendered":"From Awkward to Confident: A Journey of Growth."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">TRANSFORMATION IS A POWERFUL EXPERIENCE OF SELF-DISCOVERY. In high school, I was the quintessential awkward teenager. Glasses, braces, thick bangs, and a bit chubby, I wasn\u2019t exactly confident in myself. I played the piano and violin, got good grades, and was shy when it came to public speaking. One day, a boy at school called me fat in front of others&#8230;..<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"668\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-1002-668x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-1002-668x1024.png 668w, https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-1002-196x300.png 196w, https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-1002.png 706w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 668px) 100vw, 668px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In high school, I was the quintessential awkward teenager. Glasses, braces, thick bangs, and a bit chubby, I wasn\u2019t exactly confident in myself. I played the piano and violin, got good grades, and was shy when it came to public speaking. One day, a boy at school called me fat in front of others, and that moment stuck with me. It was the first time someone had insulted me so directly, and I carried that feeling for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"360\" height=\"526\" src=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-1003.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19025\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-1003.png 360w, https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-1003-205x300.png 205w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Over time, things changed. I got contact lenses, my braces came off, and I learned how to style my hair and care for my skin. I slimmed down, grew into my height, and found my voice through my work in marketing, photography, and education. My confidence grew as I learned to embrace my unique strengths. It wasn\u2019t easy, but I gradually left behind my introverted, self-conscious teenage self and became someone who thrived on interaction and connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-1004.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19026\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-1004.png 1024w, https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-1004-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-1004-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/image-1004-768x768.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Fast forward nearly 15 years later, I was walking through the mall when I bumped into that same boy from high school. He barely recognized me at first, doing a double take before stuttering a compliment: \u201cYou look good!\u201d I responded politely with a \u201cgood to see you,\u201d and walked away. Life had changed for both of us. Despite everything, I\u2019m still a musical nerd at heart, but with confidence, I never had before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/lessons-from-the-roller-coaster-of-entrepreneurship\/\" title=\"\">also read&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TRANSFORMATION IS A POWERFUL EXPERIENCE OF SELF-DISCOVERY. In high school, I was the quintessential awkward teenager. Glasses, braces, thick bangs, and a bit chubby, I wasn\u2019t exactly&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19023"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19027,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19023\/revisions\/19027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}