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My story is relatable to any person who has ever had a typical childhood.

Being a teen, we all ask the exact same questions,

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 Do I belong? 

 Am I worthy? 

 Am I loved?

Those questions still parade around in my mind, and I ponder if I’ll ever “make it” in this difficult, uncertain world.

A word that describes me is “different.”  Different is a loaded word. Different can be defined as a good thing as well as a bad thing. Different is the one thing that doesn’t belong in the group. Peer pressure in school encourages teens to stay the same, like a song in High School Musical says, “Stick to the status quo.”

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I have always marched to the beat of my own drum. I was always the independent kid with the wild imagination. Before I started school, my mom used to call me her “little monkey” because I had no sense of fear, and I climbed to the highest point in every situation without fear of the fall. As I got older,   the lies of classmates, the lies of social media, and even the lies of some of my family members discouraged me from having that spunk, that “no fear” attitude like I had  when I was my mom’s “little monkey.” Even though life brings many challenges, I want to share that   there is hope.