Dear Janus

The first thing I must say to you is this: at 5′ 5″ height, 120lbs is by no means overweight and you should NOT be trying to reduce your weight further. Some guy calling you fat does not mean you’re fat. That’s just some guy getting off on making you feel bad, for reasons that exist in his head and have nothing to do with you or your weight. Ignore him, please. Otherwise, you could easily spiral downwards into anorexia.

You are entitled to your views on wicca, or on anything else come to that. Kids will pick on anyone who isn’t exactly like them (many adults are like this, too, sadly) and I would guess that they were kids that hardly had an idea or opinion or belief in their heads about anything and were jealous that you were more intellectually and spiritually developed than they were (or probably ever will be).

You sound overwhelmed, not least because of your demanding parents. It’s difficult, especially at your age, to not be beaten down by your parents’ requirements of you, I know, but try to tune them out a bit. You sound like an intelligent person with a bright future. You have many interests and some good friends. You have a whole lifetime to learn about all the things that you want to master, give yourself a break and don’t expect everything to happen right now (some things won’t happen at all, and that’s fine, you’ll lose interest in some of them anyway). And drop the idea of ‘perfection’, it doesn’t exist and the pursuit of it will exhaust and depress you. Don’t do that to yourself!

Hope this helps.

Jan