📓 Thursday, May 14, 2026 — 8:59 p.m.
💬 Question
What’s a moment where you realized someone saw you completely differently than you saw yourself?
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I’ve never really seen myself as desirable to women.
Honestly…
I think I spent most of my life assuming I was built to be rejected.
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Yeah, there were moments where I acted confident.
But deep down?
Not really.
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The body I walk around in never fully matched the person I saw in my head.
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Back in high school, I was failing almost every semester.
All-boys school.
Every summer, like clockwork, I had to make up F’s in summer school just to be allowed back.
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And weirdly…
every summer I’d get A’s and B’s.
Almost too easily.
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I just never figured out how to bring that same version of me into the regular school year.
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Anyway…
summer before sophomore year.
Public high school.
Girls everywhere.
And I was nervous as hell.
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So I had one strategy:
Stick close to my friend.
Like a shadow.
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Then one sunny day in Los Angeles…
I feel a tap on my shoulder.
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What the fuck?
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I turn around.
And for a second…
everything felt bright.
Like the light behind her exploded.
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“Hey, what’s your name?”
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I honestly didn’t know if she was talking to me or my friend.
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“You. What’s your name?”
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“I’m Roberto.”
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Then she asked:
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
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Now you’d think this story ends well.
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No.
No.
No.
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I tried to hook her up with my friend instead.
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Why?
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Because I genuinely didn’t think much of myself.
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But looking back now…
after everything I’ve been trying to do to accept myself…
I realize something.
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Why not me?
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Maybe I just needed some maintenance.
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Fix a few dents.
Change the oil.
Upgrade the operating system.
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I think I’m finally coming online.
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💬 Reader question
Have you ever realized your self-image was way harsher than the way other people saw you?
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If this felt real… I write moments like this.
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