Everybody experiences times when they don’t feel confident in their own skin and lose faith in themselves. When we feel like we want to change something, it usually involves our appearance.
For instance, some people want to modify their appearance, others want to lose weight, and yet others want to change the style of their hair. We certainly always desire to modify or better something about ourselves, yet these adjustments can occasionally be incredibly challenging to implement.
Consider Lizzie Velásquez, for instance, who has a unique genetic condition that has an impact on how she looks. Lizzie can’t put on weight, which can have an impact on your mental and emotional health.
To attain the intended result in a healthy and sustainable way, we must first learn to accept ourselves as we are. If, however, we truly need or want a change, we must go gently and gradually. Lizzie Velásquez made the decision to make a shift.
Let’s recall how we felt at the age of sixteen. Because we are highly motivated and undergoing many changes, this age can be very challenging. At 16, we are sensitive to what others think of us and it has a noticeable impact.
There was a video of Lizzie calling another woman “The Ugliest Woman in the World” when she was 16 years old, and everyone was making derogatory remarks about the woman. Regardless of our age, each of them would find this situation to be traumatic.
Lizzie Velásquez had to deal with this on a daily basis, but she found a way to ignore what people said and follow her own path in life. Lizzie Velásquez was just 2 pounds, 11 ounces when she was born on March 13, 1989, in Austin, Texas.
Since she was a little child enjoying life and unable to comprehend how many people laughed at her, Lizzie has always been a child who is much younger than her actual age. Despite this, Lizzie is unaware that something is wrong with her body. She didn’t understand what was wrong until she was six years old, though, when she noticed that everyone was staring at her and laughing.
When Lizzie first decided not to tell her family about what was happening at school, the other students teased her and no one wanted to hang out with her, leaving Lizzie alone and depressed all the time. But eventually, he made the decision that he needed to express his feelings to his parents.
Her parents were saddened to learn what was going on in their young daughter’s life, but they assured Lizzie that there was nothing wrong with her other than the fact that she was a young girl and hence physically smaller than the other kids, but that she was intelligent and capable of doing everything she set her mind to.
Still, why does Lizzie look like that?
Marfan syndrome and lipodystrophy, two uncommon disorders, were present at birth in Lizzie. Her heart, eyes, and bones are all affected by unusual genetic diseases, and she is unable to gain weight due to an issue with how fat is transported throughout her body. Lizzie is likewise growing older earlier than most kids.
Inspirational TedTalk
Lizzie struggled to comprehend why so many individuals would judge a very unwell 16-year-old girl entirely on the basis of her appearance.
Lizzie, fortunately, is and has always been a strong woman. As a result, she was determined to show everyone that she can achieve her goals in life and refused to allow anything or anyone to affect her emotionally.
When she turned 23, Lizzie earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication from Texas State University.
In 2003, she was invited to a TED Talk in Austin, which went viral. Lizzie recounted how everyone laughed at her since kindergarten, and that, at one point, she thought only her physical appearance defined her. She said that when she saw the video about her, she realized that she did not have to let some bad and unknown people describe her, but she had to follow her dreams. Lizzie managed to show everyone how strong she was despite everything she had to endure.
She is currently 33 years old, a successful businesswoman, and she travels the world to share her life story and sickness with others.
Lizzie enjoys what she does and enjoys encouraging individuals to trust others around them rather than let them define them. Although Lizzie has always had her parents’ support, she is aware that not everyone is as fortunate and makes an effort to motivate and assist those around her.
Unfortunately, even now there are people who laugh at her. For example, on TikTok, it became a horrible trend among parents, where they did a FaceTime call saying that Lizzie would be the child’s next teacher. This trend should scare children or make them laugh at their new teacher.
Lizzie has hurt again, but she decided to talk and said that every parent should teach their child to respect people and not judge them by their physical appearance because you can never know how the person next to you feels and what a hard life he/she has.
Lizzie is truly an inspiration to all of us and we should learn from her not to judge others, but to always try to help and understand them because they do not choose to be in this situation and we must never forget that we can be in their situation at any time.
