A lot can happen in a year. A person can be instantly changed in one day, never mind a whole 365 days. Some years aren't as eventful as others but people can change a lot. I became even more of an adult and started to make more of my own choices. I learned from those choices and those choices made me who I am today. I stopped letting other people control me and I decided what was truly best for me.

In the past year:

I learned how to stand up for myself. I realized who I am and that I deserved so much more than what I was getting. I realized that in order to make change and accomplish my dreams I had to be the one to change things. Yes I may have lost some people along the way, but really those people were just dragging me down and tearing me apart. I brought new people into my life who have raised me up and showed me what happens when I take control and stand up for myself.

I fought for what I wanted. I realized no one got anywhere by sitting down, being shy, and waiting for someone to save them. I sucked it up and fought hard for what I wanted and not only did it get me to where I am today, but It taught me how to fight for the things I want in the future.

I stopped putting others first all the time. I used to always worry about everyone else before I worried about myself. Then I realized that I was putting other people that were never my real friends first. That made me realize that I have to put myself first and stop thinking about everyone else for a change. That also helped me find out who my real friends are.

I cut negative people out of my life. I realized that I wasn't happy with a majority of the negative, fake, rude people in my life. So I cut them out. I realized I should be more focused with quality over quantity. Some people were harder to cut out than others, but at the end of the day people have a way of showing you if they really care or if they are just using you.

These are just some of the changes that make me who I am today. I love who I am and I'm not going to let anyone try to change that, take that confidence away, or make me feel like I need to change to please others. I hope others can look at this and feel the same way about themselves.