In life, it is quite easy to find yourself feeling alone. You may not have many friends, or at least that is what you think, or you might have a lot of friends but do not feel as if they are not your real friends. You might find yourself wishing you were that extroverted girl who is always walking around the halls with her squad. You might want to be the "pretty and popular girl" who wins best everything in high school. No matter who you want to be, you're comparing yourself to others. Often during this time, you feel alone, like you are the only one going through this struggle. But I am here to tell you that you are not alone.

I am not just some popular girl being empathetic towards you because I have always felt like that girl. All throughout my public school years, I felt invisible. I did not fit in, I was excluded, and so I put myself down a lot. I put myself down to the point of depression and suicidal thoughts. The fact that I had two cancer surgeries and the fact that I am visually impaired did not help my case, let me tell you. So I have always felt like the outcast. I was questioning why I was who I was, and I did not want to be this visually impaired, cancer survivor girl. I was in denial, so let's just say that I was in a bad place. Not even Parks & Recreation could pull me out of this funk. That's when you know you really have it bad!

Luckily, I am far beyond that dark place now! I'm here to tell you, no matter how cliche this is, life does get better out of high school. This does not mean that life is all butterflies and sunshine all the time; heck no. College and beyond definitely has its struggles, and I have felt alone in college sometimes too. But I have made so many great friends in college and I feel so blessed right now to be doing all these leadership opportunities and to have the friends that I have. I'm still not the girl who walks with a bunch of girls in the hallway, but I love that because I am an introvert so I need my space. I have come to love myself and who I am, and I am proud of myself for that.