"Bright Light" by Alexis, 16 | May 2020

At my lowest point in life, I was in the dark, not knowing what was happening to my body. It was all new. I thought I was weird, I thought that there was something wrong with me, I thought that I was sick. In my life I was able to push away things, I was able to just hide it. But what was going on inside me, I could not hide it. I could not control it. It took over my body and I was so scared. But then someone came and told me it was ok, I’m going to be ok, we will get through this together. Now I see light. I see my future with new coping skills and people to help guide me through it. I don’t feel alone. I don’t feel like I need to hide. I can trust them. It’s still hard, I’m still learning new things about myself and learning new coping skills. But I do see my life going somewhere. To know I’m getting this ugliness off my shoulders, to take my bag off and go through it. My light is brighter than my past. I define myself. Not people who hurt me, not people who let me down, only me. I define myself.