There are a lot of different hobbies in the world that a lot of different people partake in. There’s writing, drawing, music, collecting stamps, and journaling. My favorite happens to be cosplaying. What is cosplay? Cosplay is short for “costume play” and involves dressing up. It’s like an extreme version of Halloween, and it doesn’t have to be just on Halloween. It can be any time of the year.

Why do I cosplay? It makes me feel good about myself. I grew up hating my body, and to this day, still do hate my body. When I cosplay, I feel confident in my body. I feel like I am on top of the world; I feel beautiful and handsome. When I cosplay at anime conventions, people will come up to me and tell me that they like my costume and they like how it compliments something about me.

I met my two best friends through cosplay, and many more friends through those friends. It brought me into a world I never would have known about. It’s easy for me to say that cosplay brought me out of a dark part of my life. Cosplay is so important to me because it makes me feel like I have a chance to be beautiful.

It’s, unfortunately, not that way for everyone. There are some cosplayers out there who feel insecure when they cosplay, be it because of their body type or skin color. There are also cosplayers out there who feel it is necessary to make fun of other cosplayers because of the person’s weight or skin color, which is extremely unfortunate. Most cosplayers are very encouraging, but there will always be bad eggs.

If you are interested in cosplay and are on the fence about actually doing it, I have some advice. Go for it, and be yourself. Don’t worry about what the others say, especially not the negative things. Enjoy yourself. Life is too short to be focused on negative things. You are beautiful and amazing. If you think you’ll enjoy yourself and have a good time, do it. You might make new friends during your time in the community.