Dear dad,

You’ve made everything so hard for me. The littlest things in life like doubting how my outfit looks one day, to doubting my body or my weight the next. You’ve made me feel stupid for every missed question on a test, no matter how hard I tried or how long I studied. You’ve made me feel anxiety when I have to make the smallest choice, like who I want to sit with at lunch, vs the biggest choices, like where I go to college. All because everything you’ve ever said or done to me has inflicted one constant feeling inside me: doubting myself.

But the worst thing you’ve done is made me fear that every man is like you. That someday, the person I’m with will show his true colors. That someday he’s going to lie to me. Cheat on me. Put me down with his words. Demean me. You made me so scared that the person I love won’t ever love me back just as much, that he’ll always find someone or something else better, and that no matter what I do I’ll never be good enough in his eyes. Or yours.