The YouTube community was deeply moved on Tuesday, June 9, when Ingrid Nilsen — commonly known as Missglamorazzi — uploaded her most honest and raw video to date. Through heart-wrenching stories and confessions about her life, Ingrid not only shows us the path to bravery, but also the freedom you get with being true to yourself.

For those of you that do not know Ingrid, she is one of the most popular beauty vloggers in the YouTube community. With over three million subscribers, Ingrid does weekly videos on beauty, fashion, cooking and lifestyle. Ingrid has made us part of her life, and now even more so when she said, for the first time ever, that she was gay. I think that most of us were surprised because we only got to see pieces and glances of Ingrid’s life. It is often too common to believe that because people have made their life public, we know all about them or even feel entitled to know everything. I think this misconception is what ultimately leads public figures to insecurities and the fear of disappointing more people than their direct family. It took Ingrid years and years of pain to finally realize that she was worth a fair chance at happiness. Piles upon piles of suppression and telling herself that the life she was living was not exactly what she wanted, but it was okay, stopped her from living the life she wanted.

I think we can all learn from her journey of self-discovery. We are all, in a way, struggling to become who we really want to be. We are constantly scared of what other people will say, and how they will react if our thinking and the way that we are defies the “standards.” We are afraid of cruelty created by those that are in pain and are just too afraid to admit it. Our worst enemy is ourselves. I think one of the points that stuck closest to my heart is when she says that she did not think she deserved to be happy. And in a way, I think our darkest self tells us that. We judge ourselves harsher than we deserve. But it is our job to accept our flaws and imperfections along with what is good and true. Whether you are gay, straight, young, old, tall, short, Hispanic, African American, Asian, White, female, male or anything and everything in between, know that you are worth a shot at a happy and full life. Your differences do not make you any less than you are, on the contrary, they are what distinguish you from the rest and make you find your own place in the world with similar like-minded people.

Part of me feels like I know Ingrid. I have been watching her videos for so long, and I have gone through the journey with her, even when I did not know I was. I have observed this past year how accepting and comfortable she has become her own skin. She is not afraid of being herself, with her quirks and her beauty that goes beyond what meets the eye. Although I may not have ever met her, I consider Ingrid a friend. She has given me hope in myself and inspired many of us to become the best version of ourselves.

Cheers to you Ingrid, and to everyone out there that is brave enough to be themselves.

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice —
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do —
determined to save
the only life you could save.”

― Mary Oliver