What springs to mind when I think back to my teenage years? Not happiness that's for sure...but then, I don't think they are for many of us...

Final Fantasy 8 - Limited Edition Box Set

As a teenager, I was slightly overweight, irritatingly shy, annoyingly quiet and a bit a computer geek.So, not much has changed really, except these days I'm more than a little overweight.

I was average height, with boring hair that did as it wanted (a fact that was often pointed out to me), I always seemed to get spots in the most annoying places, like right in the middle of my forehead, on the end of my nose, or a prominent position on my chin (another fact often pointed out). I was very concious of my high forehead (yup, you guessed it...constantly pointed out in class) and dressing fashionably just did not interest me (do I need to say any more?)

At School I kept to myself, and all this did was make me an easy target, because kids knew I wouldn't fight back...and 9 times out of 10, I didn't. But whilst I was a quiet goody-two-shoes at School, at home I was a stroppy teenager. It was like everything from the school day just built up inside me, and being in a place of safety and comfort I just vented all my frustrations...unfortunately that also came in the guise of food!

Thanks to having two older brothers, I was really into computer games, and I was more interested in reading music magazines than fashion ones.

I hated maths and Science, and RE was just boring and pointless. Food Technology was just a doss, and well...I went to PE as often as I could get away with. English was my saviour, and writing my lifeline. My writing was the one thing that my classmates never really seemed to not take the piss out of, and unless I was just incredibly naive (I could easily believe I was), but they always appeared to like my work!

It's funny, but through the majority of my teens, body image and fashion had no real affect on me,and it wasn't until around the age of 17 that I began to care. I kinda wish I could go back to that not caring age, because being so obsessed with body image is just exhausting!!