Change

Well friends, a great deal has changed since my last journal entry. I've created new art, talked to some great people on here and viewed AMAZING artists that I am truthfully quite jealous of. Part of the change that has happened is simply life. I've changed since 2013 and have seen people around me change. A father I once held close and looked up to seemed to vanish before my very eyes and become this cruel and broken being. He wasn't the man I had once admired and loved...he isn't.
    None of you know about my personal life and I'm not going to go into too much detail. Most of you may never even read this. For those who do take the time to, I thank you and hope you are able to fight through whatever battles you're going through.

I'm now living with my younger brother and mother. Both I have not lived with for over 5 years. I'm in a MUCH better place now, than I have been in years. I discovered family I never really knew I had, I regained old friends who I thought, due to unfortunate circumstances, hated me and thought I was a freak, which luckily wasn't true - they had been waiting for me and always cared. One in particular, whom I've always thought of as my best friend, I've grown even closer to and wouldn't know what I would have done without him.
    Over the years now I've made acquaintances/friends and met a girl who I now see as the sister I never had.

I'm trying to graduate high school now, with three years of bad grades behind me, due to the abusive household I had been in for so long. I'm planning on taking a year off from school, getting a job, a car and FINALLY selling my artwork. I want to start a business of my own and I want to let people not only see my creations but be able to buy them to have for their own. I want to pursue the dream I've always had and I want to make it come true. I'll be attending Columbia to take art classes while I plan on what to do for my future.
    I haven't gotten into too much detail of all the troubles I've had these past few years and I'm actually making light and not going fully in depth into the importance of the sister-by-bond I now have, or the best friend who has always been there for me. I love them both more than I can say and they have both helped me through some very dark times, even if my best friend wasn't able to be there in person for me. He still cared and does to this day. We've grown so close now and we're both beginning to really care for each other...and in a way that's more than just friends.

So thank you, whoever you are, for reading this and I hope that whatever you're going through...no matter how much it hurts...because believe me, it does hurt and will hurt more than I can even express...I may not know exactly what you're going through, but I've gone through multiple Hell(s) and have come back with a fire in my eyes and you will too. I don't exactly feel stronger for it all, but when I think about the person I've become VS the person I was or could be if I hadn't gone through what I did, I know that I am indeed a stronger person for having gone through it all. Whatever makes you happy or keeps even the slightest shred of hope within you, I want you to grasp it tight and remember that you will come out of this. You will be a better human being and you will look at the world with a whole new perspective...whether that perspective may be that of a good or bad one. You will be able to handle yourself and will be able to fight through any battle.