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It Gets Better

I came out when I was seventeen. I was terrified. Truly, utterly terrified.

Not that people would make fun of me or not accept me, but that I would be alone.

I was scared of being alone.

There was only one other gay kid in my high school, and after five days of dating him, we broke up, and then I was...on my own.

Don't get me wrong. I had wonderful friends, and I was able to keep my family from finding out about my sexuality until I was ready for them to hear it, but still, I felt isolated.

I felt like I was never going to be in a relationship like my friends were. I couldn't have that romantic prom date everybody else seemed to have. I couldn't kiss in the hallways or have a high school sweetheart.

All because there just wasn't anybody else but me.

But then it got better.

I went to college, and I found out that there were other gay people out there in the world. There were other people who felt how I felt. And looking back, all those prom fantasies and high school sweetheart dreams were...mostly only real in my head.

Just about everyone I went to high school with was struggling with the same things I was struggling with, we just all kept our struggles to ourselves.

I think you'll find in life that happens a lot.

One of my favorite teachers told me that everyone's scared that if people knew what was going on inside their heads, they'd be universally hated.

Trust me, everybody's got the same beautiful assortment of wisdom and nonsense up there.

I know that some of you are struggling and in some cases, some of you are just desperately trying to survive, so let me leave you with this.

There is a world you haven't seen yet so massive and amazing that if you need something to fight for, fight for the chance to see that world.

I'm twenty-six and there's still so much I haven't seen. At sixteen and seventeen, there were so many great people I hadn't met yet. There were so many great experiences I hadn't had. There was so much passion and strength within myself I hadn't discovered yet.

You have that strength and that passion as well.

You just don't know it yet.

Fight for the chance to see the things you haven't seen yet. Fight for it until your last breath.

Don't give it up.

Don't rob the world of the person you are, and the person you could be.

It gets better.

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