I placed the nude Tahari heel on my foot and instantly felt like a princess. I was at a family event and saw everyone dressed up in formal wear. As always, my mother looked elegant in her purple dress along with her ruby red four-inch stilettos. That’s when I fell in love with heels and asked my mom if I could try hers on. By luck, they fit perfectly.

At age 10, I discovered the beauty of heels and decided to make them one of my wardrobe essentials. Besides they can’t hurt that much when I wear them, right?

Two years later, my love for heels had grown. At that time I hit my growth spurt and my height was 4 feet 8 inches. This caused me to become insecure about my physical appearance because I wasn’t tall like all my other classmates. But by wearing heels, I didn’t feel as ashamed about the way I looked.

On the first day of middle school, I wanted to change the way I dressed to feel older. I decided to wear eyeshadow, like Bella’s beige-brown eyeshadow from Twilight, a floral dress from Forever 21 and a pair of four-inch beige colored high heels from Old Navy to look taller. Throughout the day, I received compliments about how cute I looked, particularly about my dress and of course my heels.

From that day on, I was called “the little fashionista” by my friends and teachers. I had a feeling middle school was going to be one of the best times of my life.

By the time I entered high school, I hadn’t grow even an inch and was still depending on heels to increase my height. In a way it worked because every time I wore a pair of heels, I was about an inch taller than my mother who is 4 feet 11 inches, making me feel better about my height. Part of me accepted the fact I would be short for the rest of my life, even though there are still moments when I am insecure about being 4 feet 8 inches.

A few days before my 16th birthday, my mom and I went to DSW to buy me a pair of heels for my party. When I entered the store, I searched everywhere for the perfect pair. After about the hundredth pair, I was torn between my two favorites. One of the pairs was a silver hue, like the glass slipper Cinderella wore to the ball while the other was a black heel from the Jessica Simpson Collection. Not even giving it a second thought, I chose the Jessica Simpson heel because I could wear those heels with everything.

To this day, I still love heels but my opinion about them has changed. I’ve learned they hurt, especially when I wear them for seven days straight, but I will always love them no matter what. I’ve had amazing memories in heels, such as walking in them during my middle school graduation, celebrating my 16th birthday and saying “I love you” to my first love for the first time.

The only thing I can truly say about heels is: give a girl a pair of heels and she can conquer the world.