I grew up in a small, quiet, farming community outside the city of Windsor in Ontario, Canada. I am the oldest of three children in a multicultural family. My mother is from England and my father is from India. My father wasn't around very much while I was growing up. His work took him away from home a lot. Though it didn't seem too bad at the...

All my life, I desired popularity and perfection. No matter what I achieved, I never reached my own expectations. I excelled in track and field and softball, but I hated to lose or come in second. I was voted class princess twice-but never queen. My high school years were kept busy with tanning, exercising and partying. And I derived my self-worth...

"Boy, God must really be gunning for you!" As the tears began to stream down my face, I was grateful we were working in the relative darkness of an ultrasound room. The comment made by a nurse was simply an off-handed remark. The words themselves were harmless, but they gained power and cut deep because they echoed the feelings that were surfacing...

I'm doing something I thought I'd never do again - working as a full-time model in New York, this time in the plus-size market. For six years, I worked full-time as a straight-size model. But I got out of the business after battling bulimia and coming to the conclusion that it wasn't right for me to continue. Bulimia had a hold on my life, and...

Mary took a deep breath, put on her best grin-and-bear-it smile and knocked on the door of her friend’s home. Somehow, she had gotten herself into a schedule where she always had something going on but none of it seemed to be her first choice. Mary was known for her so-called confidence and full social life, but she was suddenly realizing just...

My disappointment was intense as I watched my shot disappear into the bunker on the last hole, and with it, my chances of winning the 1994 Masters. But that was only the beginning of my disappointments. For the next two years I failed to win the U.S. Open, finishing in second place each time. I was struggling with self-doubt, and I dreaded to hear...

I am adopted. I had a wonderful childhood and I have great parents that I love deeply, but I can't deny some tough moments that came as a direct result of being adopted. I remember being at the doctor's office once and hearing my mother explain to the doctor that they didn't have any medical history for me because I was adopted. I felt weird and...