Am I smart enough?
The “dumb blonde” jokes didn’t bother me at first. Growing up, I always felt just as capable and intelligent as other students, even though some kids expected me to be dumb because of the stereotype associated with having blonde hair.
When I reached high school, though, my grades started to drop, and I found myself constantly commenting that I wasn’t smart or capable enough to do well in my classes. I jokingly told my friends that it was probably because of my blonde hair. But the real reasons for my low self-esteem and self-doubt were a soccer coach who’d made me feel I wasn’t good enough, teammates who put me down, and a teacher who had humiliated me in front of his class.
I’d really started to believe that I wasn’t smart.
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