I put off braces for years because of the timing, always some reason it wasn't the right moment, a wedding coming up, a new job, whatever. What finally got me in the chair was my dentist casually mentioning diamond braces during a cleaning. I asked him to repeat himself because I genuinely thought I misheard.

Seven months is not long in the grand scheme, but it felt long some weeks, especially the first month when everything was just sore and I kept forgetting to avoid the wrong foods. What made it easier was that I actually liked how they looked from day one instead of counting down the days until they came off. My orthodontist kept saying the diamonds were purely cosmetic, the wire and the pressure do the actual work, but cosmetic or not, they made the whole thing feel less like a chore.

By month five people at the gym started asking what I did to my teeth, and I loved explaining it honestly. I get compliments every single day now, which still catches me off guard a little. Seven months went by faster than I expected, and looking back I probably would have done this years earlier if I'd known it could look like this instead of the metal mouth I was dreading.