Since birth, Elizabeth had been stared at constantly by everyone. She missed the days of her childhood when she did not know why—when all she would do was turn to her mother and ask her what everybody was looking at. Her mother would always give her a vague explanation that truly explained nothing. However, her childhood self would never question her mother’s lacking answers; she skipped along beside her as if there were nothing wrong with the world. Little did she know, everyone was staring in her direction.
Now that she was a teenager, she was far more sensitive and aware of the name-calling, mocking, and gossiping that ensued whenever she was around. She often heard phrases such as “The Ugly Duckling” cast her way. She always pretended to be that little kid again; she acted as if she heard none of it and stared out the window, seemingly obliviously. This action obviously did not discourage the bullying of the others, but it did manage to give her some sort of peace of mind, in that most people would leave her alone to daydream.
Every morning she began her routine by first looking into the mirror. She did not believe that there was anything particularly special or different about her. She thought she looked rather plain, to be honest. Nevertheless, the jeers from her peers and all the sideways glances had trained her to truly loathe her own appearance. Every time she looked in the mirror now, she saw nothing but her own hatred. She hated the way she looked, she hated the way she pretended that the bullying never got to her, and most of all, she hated how she had simply taken what everyone else had said about her to heart and had begun to hate herself.
It had turned into a true struggle for Elizabeth to drag herself out of bed in the mornings and get ready to go to school or anywhere else for that matter. She honestly wished that she could stay at home all the time and never come out; she wanted to become a recluse. If she were a hermit, she would never have to see people—or the stares they cast her way—ever again. She would not have to worry about keeping her head down at all times so that people did not see much of her: the less of her that was seen, the better.
Lately, Elizabeth had taken to wearing her jacket hood up no matter where she was. She always stuck to the edge of the hallways—never the middle—and kept her head down and her hair in her face as she walked. Her way of carrying herself reflected how she always felt: devoid of confidence.
On one of these occasions, Elizabeth happened to slam into someone’s open locker—hard. As a result, her books went everywhere, and she ended up falling down.
“Oh my goodness! Are you okay? I’m so sorry; let me help,” a kind yet loud voice insisted as the girl bent down to collect Elizabeth’s books from the floor of the hallway.
Elizabeth was shocked as well as conflicted, having always been afraid of interacting with others, yet soothed by the voice. She cast her gaze down to avoid looking at the other girl and shook the arm that had been carrying her books out; it was what had hit the locker first.
“Are you okay? Do you want to go to the nurse?” The girl was trying to get a look at Elizabeth’s face to see if it was all right; there was no way Elizabeth would let that happen.
Elizabeth took her books, brushed herself off, and left without a word—not caring if she appeared cold. It was only once she was out of sight that she hid herself in a corner and sobbed. All she could think about was how scared she had been and how, if she was normal, she could have talked a bit longer and possibly begun a friendship. “Stupid! So stupid!” she thought. She could not stand how weak and pathetic she was.
She ended up sneaking off campus and skipping the rest of the school day because she was not in any state of mind to put up with the stares and mocking from her classmates.  As soon as the school day was over, she headed home, where she hid in her room and skipped supper. Her mother, used to her antics, did not question it and left her alone as she knew was best.
Elizabeth hid under her covers with her phone and began scrolling through her Tumblr newsfeed mindlessly. As she was scrolling, one seemingly ordinary post—a set of the usual inspiring pictures—managed to catch her eye. She scrolled back up to the beginning of the post, put on Tumblr by a user that she did not remember following, and read.
The picture set seemed to be speaking directly to her. The first photo was just three simple words in primary colors on a white background; it read, “Love yourself more.” The second photo had a watercolor background and read in big, black letters, “You can’t live a positive life with a negative mind.” Elizabeth was astonished by just how much those two simple pictures resonated with her and how she was feeling at that very moment.
She quickly clicked on the Tumblr user’s name to pull up his/her blog and began scrolling through his/her posts finding nothing but more uplifting picture sets, quotes, stories, and article links. The more she scrolled, the more encouraged and happy she became. These posts proved that she was not the only one in the world to have ever felt this way; there were plenty more people just like her who had survived and were trying to motivate others to make it past these trying times.
Finally, she stopped at a picture. The picture was that of a happy girl holding a sparkler in her hand in front of her mouth. The colors were muted to draw the onlooker’s eyes to the white text in front. It read, “Love yourself first. The world will follow.”
Elizabeth felt chills when she finished reading the picture. She had never felt so strongly. She decided right then that that is what she would do. She would learn to accept and love herself in order for others to learn to love her and the way she looked.
Months later, Elizabeth was a completely different person. She was always around people, talking and laughing with them; she was never alone. Anybody would agree that she was beautiful. In reality, her physical appearance had not changed. The only thing that had changed was her perception of herself and her confidence. Just like that, the ugly duckling turned into a beautiful swan.