This is the story of how one simple belief can change not only our perception about ourselves, but also how it changes the world around you.

As a child I used to be very close to my grandmother. She didn´t live in Mexico City like me, so I´d fly and spend a whole summer with both my grandparents, in the city where they lived. I started flying by myself very young, since I was potty trained I believe.

She was very nice and loved me dearly, but sometimes her "I must tell nothing but the truth" attitude made me realize the toxic effects of being brutally honest at all times.

As a child I used to be like any other child: I thought I was the cutest thing on earth, and I was pretty happy about it. Until one day, the day everything changed. My grandma announced we would have company that day.

"Today, the López family is coming for a visit. They have a girl your age. She´s such a gorgeous little girl, with the nicest features and the cutest little nose you´ve ever seen".

Oh- I said - do cute little noses make you pretty? I asked
-Oh yes- she said
After hearing that, my obvious response was to find out if I had a cute little nose too.
So… I suppose, I have a cute little nose as well right?
Oh no, she said, I´d say your nose is very, very wide.
Is wide bad?
Yes, usually the classic, Renaissance look with a tiny little nose is the nicest. Wide noses like yours are pretty ordinary.

I was so shocked to hear that. Me? The prettiest thing God created, kicked off of her throne. For just somebody else´s cute little nose? How can that be possible?

I ran to the mirror, I wanted to meet my nose for the first time. I was surprised to see a nose just like the one my grandma described. If she´s the adult she must know better, right?

I didn´t see the nose I had, but the nose my grandma described.

That affected me to the point that I´d wear a clothes pin on my nose every night, hoping God, or the clothes pin would miraculously fix my nose for me. Nothing. I grew up with such a complex: ugly girl with an ugly nose.

When you are surprised, you are extremely suggestible to what´s being told to you at that moment. That comment or opinion goes directly into your subconscious mind. It becomes a new belief.

Usually the conscious mind is able to reject information so it doesn't go directly into the subconscious without proper analysis. But if you are appalled, your ability to filter what it is said to you (or happening to you) gets blocked. It goes right in. That´s how phobias are developed.

The beliefs you have right now are the combination of the opinions and statements you´ve been told by parents, teachers, classmates, other authority figures at the moment.

Going back to my story, from that day on, I completely changed my opinion about myself. I went from prettiest to ugliest in just one day. From that day on, I treated myself like an ugly girl.

I grew up like that, feeling ugly and believing life should treat me accordingly because of a comment my grandma said when I was little. I wouldn´t be asked to dance at parties, I´d be bullied at school. I became incredibly shy. If somebody stared at me I´d automatically think: Oh my gosh, they´re looking AT MY NOSE!

When I was 17, I couldn´t take it anymore. I decided to go for a nose job. Life would never be good for me unless I changed my nose. Yes, my perception about myself spiraled out of control.

When I met with the surgeon for the first time, what I said was that I wanted a cute little Renaissance look nose. (Then all my problems would be gone, my life would be perfect, etc.)

To my surprise the doctor told me that a "cute little nose" wouldn't look good on my face. But he´d make the perfect nose for me. AKA I´d become pretty again. Even the Renaissance-nosed girls would get green with envy after seeing me with my new nose.

So we proceeded with the nose job. And for 2 long weeks I couldn´t look at myself in the mirror because of the bandages all over my face. But during those 2 weeks something happened.

I became convinced that I was again (just like many, many years before) the prettiest thing on earth. Even without seeing my nose. I was convinced I was pretty, which made me happy. I was sure my destiny would change.

When the doctor removed the bandage, all I heard was the doctor´s Ohhhs and Ahhhs before I could see myself in the mirror.

When he removed the bandage…

I ran to the mirror, I wanted to meet my new nose for the first time. I was surprised to see a nose just like the one the doctor described. If he´s the expert, he must know better right?

I didn´t see the nose I had, but the nose the doctor had wowed with enthusiasm.

The most interesting part was what happened after I came back to my everyday activities.
NOBODY NOTICED ANY DIFFERENCE. All they noticed was that I looked much, much happier.

If my nose had been that ugly everyone would have said, "You got a nose job"

My dad still thinks that that doctor was the best psychiatrist he´s ever known but the worst surgeon ever. He cannot believe he spent an arm and a leg for a nose that looks almost the same.

He barely changed my nose but he fixed my brain, he changed my self-worth. He made me believe I was beautiful and as a result of that, the world around me changed as well

After the nose job I became happy.

Many years later, reviewing my middle school pictures I realized that the problem with me back then was not my nose; it was that I had a mustache.