I learn every day what it means to love myself, and I'm constantly figuring out what makes me feel empowered.

I make positive choices so I can be happy.

You don't need anyone's permission to be exactly who you want to be

I’m in a band. I don’t go to church every Sunday. I love punk rock music. Sometimes I use swear words a lot. I respect and admire gay men and women. I’m obsessed with horror films. I know what shame feels like. And guess what old man? Jesus is still my Savior.

Seems like a lot of my generation as a whole is more concerned with being the cool kid; sarcastic, smug, or just all together impenetrable. So anyway, it's not always comfortable to be like, the dorky, happy girl at the party... but that's me.

It definitely can be really hard being away from friends and family for so long. People expect you to be different when you come back. But I love it, I love coming home. I really want to start coming back here more often ? its so fun.

The truth is, no matter what your lifestyle or occupation, nothing can really stop you when you're allowing yourself to be exactly who you want to be.