Being myself has always been something that I struggle with. As a child and even now, I have struggled with my ADHD and other issues on top of that. I would constantly be getting in trouble because I couldn't sit still or be told to stop talking. After all, I was saying too much. As an adult, I still experience this but I've learned to not let it get to me. Being a child in that situation makes you shut down and learn to control how you act and present to others, which is something kids shouldn't have to experience. I had done this my entire childhood and I learned to mask the way that I would act and how to not talk when I wanted to. Because of this, I grew up with a lot of self-
image issues that caused me to not venture out of my comfort zone and experience new things. I started to break this cycle when I met my best friend, Falon, and she encouraged me to join the color guard with her. As I got more comfortable with the
people I was around, I started to see how being myself wasn't that bad. My friends never cared if I was talking a lot or moving around too much, they just cared that I was here. Once this cycle
started to break, I began to enjoy things a lot more and ventured
out of my comfort zone so much more. Because of this, I am still venturing out of my comfort zone and allowing myself to be who I am without worrying about judgment from others.