As a child, I avoided swimming. My manager parts wouldn’t let me go swimming because it meant I would have to take off my artificial legs in front of other people. A young part of me believed that it was shameful to have artificial legs and that no one else wanted to see them. It took a very long time and a lot of work to change that belief, and now I know and fully believe that having artificial legs does not make me any less acceptable or loveable as a person.
Now, I not only enjoy swimming, but technology advances also let me do things like scuba diving in Hawaii! If you had asked childhood-me whether I would one day scuba dive with giant sea turtles, I’m certain I wouldn’t have believed it!