Kqeds Perspectives

Its Youth Takeover week at KQED and Kaitlyn Huang is practicing the art of girl boss energy to improve her self-confidence. A few weeks ago, I was walking with my friend when he pointed down to his shoes.  “Oh!” I exclaimed. “Nice new shoes!” He was devastated, because he had actually been wearing them for weeks and I hadn’t noticed. It was weird that I hadn’t noticed. Then it hit me that I don’t look at people’s shoes anymore. I was dumbfounded.  Back in middle school, I felt like there was an object constantly weighing my head down, making sneakers the lucky recipients of my gaze. It was my Gilded Age of Insecurity, when I looked my best, but felt the worst. I suffered the typical bouts of tween insecurities: You know, the ‘how does one survive among these geniuses’ or, ‘my face… ‘what a horror’. Being insecure felt exhausting.  So, when I stepped onto high school as a freshman, I was determined not to repeat my middle school years. I envisioned a glorious mental revolution to regain my confidence, but