Rediscovering Confidence

Photo by Patrick Pierre on Unsplash

I was a cripplingly shy boy. Always the outcast. I looked like Mowgli when I was a kid — If Mowgli scowled at everything in the jungle. My father is African/Indian and my mother Italian/Irish. Interestingly, certain phenotypical traits associated with my heritage came to the surface as my body changed. As a young whipper snapper, I was incredibly self conscious about my appearance. Thick curls of wavy black hair fell over my chubby face. I hated…