Meet our Lovely Young Ambassador Mia
I’ve always been consciously aware of my birthmark, but I can’t say that it’s ever really bothered me. I’ve been blessed with kind family and friends that never made me feel singled out or weird because of my birthmark. People either would act like it was completely normal or they would tell me how cool or beautiful it was. One of my friends even told me it was sexy before (that was certainly an ego boost!). That’s not to say I never had any bad experiences with it, but I was always armed with confidence by the people around me to not care as much when people were ignorant.
I used to swim a lot when I was younger and I remember feeling insecure after I found out that other people shaved their birthmarks .I got worried that when people stared at me that it wasn’t because I was winning a race, but because my back had hair on it. This was a pretty stupid notion, as I later decided, when I went to shave it and thought ‘If hair wasn’t meant to grow there, it woudln’t.’
I never shaved my birthmark again because
a) it’s a hassle
b) literally who cares!
There were many instances on holiday when I would be at the beach or swimming in a pool, and other kids my age would ask me what was ‘wrong’ with my back, or what ‘happened’ to it (more than offensive), This would just make me confused, because in my head there was quite clearly nothing wrong with me, and when asked my mum how I should respond to these questions she told me to tell them ‘It’s my birthmark!’, which I proceeded to do, every single time, with the most confidence I could exude. This probably subconsciously made me a bit scared to go swimming, even though it was one of my favourite things to do, as I found myself avoiding going out swimming when the opportunity arose (this was overpowered by pool floats and flumes, and quickly forgotten).
I remember really enjoying going to the CMN weekends that the charity hosted. They really helped me come out of my shell and meet new people that were just like me; like a big circle of good vibes. It was really fun and immersive and got me to take part in fun team building and sporting activities. My favourite thing was probably the archery we did one year, It was one of the first times I made some really good friends, and it was a super fun thing to try, It always really upset me when we couldn’t make it to one of the weekends as they were one of the things I looked forward to most in the year.
I’ve found that quite often, people don’t realise how rude they’re being, especially when they’re children, and you just have to ignore them because, they genuinely mean no harm and are just uneducated– It’s most likely nothing to do with you or how you look, you look really good no matter what your skin looks like, acne, scars, stretch marks, birthmarks, they’re all just so cool, and can often be a reminder of who you are and where you come from. I had a friend who complained about a mole to me once, I looked at her and said ‘Girl.’ and she said ‘Oh.’ (She never complained again. Also, her mole looked great as most moles do).
All people everywhere are very beautiful, including me, and you, and everyone you know, and especially people with birthmarks; big ones, hairy ones, patchy ones, ones in weird places and small ones.
