Who am I?

I breathe. I belong. I am enough. 
I am deserving of love and worthy of kindness. 

I have a life worth living. 
I have a life worth saving.
I believe that my vulnerability is beautiful. 
I see and nurture the miracle that I truly am. 

Even when I ache and cry, I belong here.
Even when life hurts, I continue to hope. 
Even when it seems like I've run out of options, I believe there are still options.

I am willing to summon my courage, empty my pockets of secrets and meet my true self. 
I am willing to own my secret feelings and needs and honor the inner pain and torment. 
I am willing to be known by others and cherished for what others discover about me. 

I am willing to sit in the center of my sorrow and confusion and know that I still have worth.  
I am willing to empty my hands and open my arms, undefended from loss and unarmored against joy. 

I am willing to allow my heart to beat faster as I leave a part of myself behind in this thing called “growing up.”
I am willing risk letting my heart break as I welcome the unexplored self just about to arrive. 

I have the right to be listened to and taken care of. 
I have the right to know who and what I am to others. 
I have the right to exalt in simple joys. 
I have the right to seek help – any help that is needed.
I have the right to accurate and comprehensive sexual health education.
If I hook up with someone, I have the right to NOT be ignored the next day.
I have the right to be loved.

I give myself permission to be exactly who I am, where I am, as I am, right now.
I give myself permission to lay down my harmful weapons and search for strategies that work better.
I give myself permission to feel all of my feelings.
I give myself permission to be fat, skinny, lonely, sad, short, tall, unathletic, differently-abled, shy, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, straight, questioning or curious about my life. 
I give myself permission to lament the absence of a seemingly perfect life and accept the life I have right now.  

I exist

I exist whether I feel anger, sorrow, fear, joy, shame or a combination of many emotions.
I exist whether I feel empty, numb or nothing at all. 
I exist in poetry and in pain.
I affect others.
I matter. 
I am moving and pulsing through the world with my sorrow and with my joy.
I am normal and I am a contradiction.
I am not alone. 

Who Am I?

I am a champion, a young soldier of survival in a common battle, defending the innocence of simple joys and fighting for the right to be exactly who I am. There is room in this world for me. I don’t have do anything to deserve love. I breathe. I belong. I am enough.