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by Reena Daruwalla, guest writer for Nancy Hayssen.com

Hi I am Reena and this is my first post here, so I’ll just take the time today to tell you a bit about myself.

I used to think myself fat and this was largely because of my thin as a rail ex-sister-in-law. I heard this from her when I was an impressionable teen, “you should lose weight or you will have trouble fitting in when you go to college” or words to that effect. And you know what was the really sad thing about this is? She thought she was doing me a favor by ‘opening my eyes’, she meant it in a perfectly kindly manner!

What saved me from a crushing inferiority complex and an absolute conviction that I was not a good looking person is my self confidence. I have been a reasonable confident person by whole life and I owe that in large part to the person that my father was.

Now, seven years after he passed away I treasure not only what he meant to me but also what he made me believe about myself. My father always made me see how special I was to him and how my special qualities were obvious to all those around me. I grew up not only being loved but also loving myself.

This self belief is now reinforced by my husband. He often (bless his soul) looks at runway models with distaste and says “who would like that?” As for my two little girls, they think I am the most beautiful person in the whole world! How lucky does that make me!

Even without the emotional crutch of having loving people around me, as an adult I realized that you can be beautiful no matter what size you are, as long as you believe yourself to be beautiful. I accepted about myself very early on, that I will never be thin person, but I always believed myself to be an attractive person.

So I never starve myself or deprive myself of stuff that I enjoy eating but I do make sure that what I eat is reasonably good for me and I do enough activity for good health and fitness. I may not fit into that really svelte dress (though I know what I can fit into to look great!), but I can climb six flights of stairs at a reasonably pace without getting too winded!

Ok now is the time to tell you I am not apt to talk in a serious vein most of the time, so expect zany, fun stuff from me as well, later. Let me have your comments!