I want to thank you, actually. You not believing in me was the best motivation I could ever ask for. I hear the echoes of your voice telling me I can’t make it as I’m working hard, typing away on my computer, trying to finish the novel I want to become a NY Times Best-seller. I think about you telling me I’d never get anywhere in life everyday just to remind myself that I have to succeed to prove you wrong. I have to see the look on your face once you hear that I am doing way better than you thought I'd ever be doing; but don’t get too ahead of yourself because I’m not only doing this for you, I’m doing this for me more than anything.

Your words used to bother me and keep me up at night, but now I chuckle when I think of them and how I let you instill doubt in myself that I couldn’t achieve all that I wanted to achieve. I wish I knew back then what I know now, and that’s that there are always going to be people like you in this world, and though you go out of your way to hurt others and crush their hopes and dreams; I will not let you do the same to me. I will not give you the satisfaction of having hurt someone to the point where they question themselves and what they want in life.

I now know who I am, what I want to do, and who I want to become and even that is ultimately because of you. You doubting me did make me doubt myself at first until I realized how foolish I was being. I turned your hate into some kind of inspiration and suddenly became so sure of myself and what I wanted to accomplish. Now, I want to do just that; tackle my goals and accomplish all that I want to so I can be able to say I did it and though you didn’t believe in me, you did somewhat make me believe in myself.

If it weren’t for you, I’d probably have humbler dreams, something more mediocre or ‘safe’; but since you said I was the kind of person to stay in my hometown and settle for a nine to five job, I expanded my dreams and goals for bigger ones. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be working as hard as I am or even be planning to fly out to the other side of the country when I graduate college. As cynical and maliciously hurtful as you are, you helped me realize I deserved a better future and now I’m working on getting just that.