In my 20 years of life, I have learned a lot, and its all been through experiences mostly. I've lived through my father abandoning me, I've lived through the death of family and even the death of my mother, I've dealt with depression and suicidal thoughts, I've self-harmed, I've been in an abusive relationship. Now I'm not telling you all of this for pity, in fact, the exact opposite I'm telling you this so you can have some background on me because if you were to pass me on the street you wouldn't be able to tell all of this. You would see a girl who is in college who has more piercings and tattoos than you can count on one hand, a girl with short hair, but mostly you would see a girl with a smile, a girl who seems confident. Do you want to know a secret? I'm really not asking anyone around me and they will all tell you the same thing, when I look in the mirror I see everything I think is wrong with me, I see my scars, I can still see the bruises from my abusive relationship, I can see the things he used to call me on my skin.

To anyone reading this I am here to tell you that the things you do and the things you say to people can hurt, the little things you say can chip away at their confidence. I have experienced this first hand. This year for the first time I experienced homophobia and hatred from a total stranger and I cried, not just for me and the people it was aimed at but I cried for them too because I never imagined someone could have that much hatred for total strangers. I experienced my appearance being attacked for no reason, but it was more than my appearance, and my sexuality, these words also started chipping away at my confidence. Confidence that I spent three years building from the ground up. You see in my junior year of high school I hit rock bottom and since then it has been an uphill battle every step of the way. I was diagnosed with depression and I had to do my schooling from home because I didn't even have it in me to go to school.

So to the man who called me and my friends f*ggots, the woman who instantly judged me on my appearance, the people who point and stare when I walk through the store and to the parents who have told their kids not to look at me and pulled them away. To the people who look at me with disgusted faces, the people who have told me to that I need to grow my hair out and look more "feminine", and to the people who have told me to remove the "bull ring" from my nose: my middle fingers salute you, I am more confident in the way I look now than I ever was when I followed society's stupid gender roles. So you can kindly keep your opinions to yourselves because I refuse to let you chip at my confidence, I refuse to let you make me falter. So if you have to look at me as a disease fine because I know in your mind, the cure to me and people who are like me is conformity and I refuse.

I am lucky enough to experience my most beautiful and unique self. I know who I am inside, and I choose to not live in the box that you want me to. To quote one of the most amazing people I've ever met, "we're more powerful simply because we choose to act in accordance with our feelings and be outwardly honest with our bodies and our emotions and our creativity, they lose out on life, not us." He said this to me mostly because he was venting but also because that's what he truly believes and now so do I and this is how I choose to live my life.

So to everyone who has experienced hatred because of the way you like to dress, because of your sexuality, because you like to express yourself, please always remember we are beyond lucky because we know our true selves. So continue on with strangely colored hair, piercings, tattoos, new styles, continue on with your form of self-expression and in the end I promise we will come out on the other side happier than ever.