Mark,

I don’t know if this could be the cause of it but my parents are pretty uninvolved in my life. My dad is always at his job and my mom has depression so she is in bed a lot. I was directionless and friendless until the age of 14 when my cousin and I got super close and she basically became my parent. She told me what to do and how to act in certain situations. I was really motivated to start my life when my cousin came into the picture because I spent all day doing nothing. I think I did nothing because I had no guidance from my parents. When my cousin helped me, she basically gave me the message that if I want to make friends I needed to look pretty. So I started dressing very nice, doing my hair and makeup, and I made a lot of friends. Then I met one of my best friends who is beautiful and we became super close, but I noticed how much attention she got for her looks. I learned that being pretty = the key to life. Even before my cousin, when I had no friends, I would still occasionally get approached by a guy in my class because he thought I was pretty. For a time, my only social interactions with people in my class were guys who thought I was pretty. That didn’t help.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by Katie.