I learned the hard way of what "be yourself' truly meant.
I know you will too.
The way you hide in the shadows.
The way you keep quiet.

Those things are not you.
Those things are what others have forced upon you.
And you never asked for it.
You felt you needed to take those things and swallow them.

Because if you couldn't be to their liking.
Then no one would like you.
You don't need to be forced to be something you're not.
With this advice everyday.

You come out of that shell, that locked box you put yourself in.
You learn how to pry those hated words.
From the mouths of hated people.
You learn that your worth is what you make it.

You learn that your beauty is far more precious.
Then those words of hated anger.
You learn that those people were jealous.
They were jealous of your everying beauty.

They knew that they were breaking you.
That cruelty to you would have brought you down.
Down until you thought you were nothing but dust.

Like you didn't deserve to be on this beautiful Earth.
Like you didn't have friends.
You pried those words from their mouths.
You knew that you were true to yourself.

You finally knew that you're so much more than them.
You started to walk into the light of your life.
And you truly knew how to be yourself.

Just like I did.

Alex Hesford