Demi Lovato is and has been a huge role model for me. When she opened up about being bullied, substance abuse, and other personal things, I was shocked. I felt sad and let down. But as she began speaking more about it, I saw that she was so much like me it was crazy.

I hadn't looked at her as a human being, but rather only as an icon or a celebrity. When she opened up about her issues, I felt so much more connected with her. Her songs got me through some of the hardest times of my life. There was a bond between us because we both shared so much pain.

We also share the same ideology. We want to help people by spreading our dark pasts, instead of hiding it. We strive to be honest and loyal, but also have our bad girl sides. These parts of us are what make us more relatable and human because we don't hide anything.

In deciding to share our stories, we both work towards saving lives. I believe in passing hope and strength down. Demi gave me strength and courage to be as great as a role model to others, as she was to me. I make mistakes, but I also talk about them to help others know they aren't alone in their battles. It's an odd feeling putting your life out there so others can see you, all of you, for al that you are. It's odd baring my soul to complete strangers. It's odd being so open and honest over a computer, but so closed off in my real life.

You have to have a balance. In my personal life, I don't talk about my pain a lot, but on Odyssey I strive to share my message by ONLY talking about my dark past. The balance comes from anonymity. Here I'm just some girl who write articles, but in real life I'm just some girl who had a rough past.

This platform lets me reach people through my shyness and through my past tellings.I want to be a role model to others, though. Not just through this screen. I want to be even more like Demi and talk about my struggles and how I overcame them publicly. And I have started that journey. I performed for The Diversity Monologues for school where I shared about my past relationship and my current one. I tell people, without shame or hesitation, that I date an "older" man. I want to be honest with people in every single aspect of my life because it means I can recah more people, but it also means I may save one person's life...like Demi did for me.