Dedication: To everyone who was there for me and helped shape me into the person I am today
I grew up in Calgary, Canada. I grew up with a lot of family issues and these fights in my family (physical and verbal) have traumatized me. My dad is a very aggressive, abusive man and I have seen him hurt my mother physically and mentally many times. The police have come to our house many times too. I have had the most toxic relationships with family members of all time. I grew up with depression and I was very self conscious of my looks. I know it seems like this is just gonna be me complaining about my life but I promise you it is not. In life, you do not get to chose what you go through or experience but you do get to choose how you cope and how you respond to it. I decided to take all the trauma from these fights that I have seen happen and turn it into an experience that has made me who I am today. These experiences made me realize my inner strength. These experiences have made me stronger and everytime I feel like giving up I remember what I have gone through and remember to stay strong. I learned to believe in myself and just be happy about even the smallest things. I realized that you cannot always please others and you should only worry about your happiness. This year has really been about self love and self care for me. I have accepted myself for who I am as an individual and my insecurities because they make me unique. I am proud of what I have accomplished and hope I can continue down this path of healing and accomplishing as much as I can. What is important to remember is that you’re never alone no matter how much you think you are and that sometimes when life isn’t going great you hold on to the small things that bring you joy to carry on. No one is perfect and at the end of the day, all that matters is that you try you’re best to be the best version of yourself. You cannot let anything bring you down. You need to remember that if you held on this long, you can hold on longer. You just need to have some faith in yourself. Things will get better even though it may not seem like it. Everyone has days where they feel down, you just need to find a healthy way to let it all out. It is okay to have a good cry sometimes because it helps you get everything out. I am proud of myself and I think that I am an amazing person because I made it through all this and I continue to battle all the negativity and focus on the positivity.
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