I joined TBT seven years ago at age 21. At the time I was in college, aspiring to be a film director. Life was looking fantastic then, but then life started throwing hurdles at me that I wasn't ready for. Several of my friends died, three family members were diagnosed with cancer, and I was going through issues with my own health. Late 2015-mid 2017 was the darkest point in my life, and I wanted to end it, but instead I made some enormous life decisions that included abandoning my work (I had been working freelance as a cinematographer), ending a long-term relationship, and moving to a new location to pursue a second undergraduate degree. At first those changes didn't feel like they were going to pay off, and I thought I'd thrown my life away, but I applied myself and worked through it.
Late 2017-18 was an uphill battle where I was trying to come out of that place, but it felt like life kept kicking me back down. I immersed myself in student politics fighting for LGBT+ rights, being elected as a representative for my college and attending national events, and ended up taking up volunteering with an organisation where I took over the role of one of my late friends (and I am still in this role, and doing my best in it to honour her memory, to this date).
Eventually I learned how to work with the set-backs, and accept that they were happening for a greater reason. The biggest difference in my life though has been this past year. I finally had the opportunity to work in a field I'm passionate about (sciences), but back in school never felt I was smart enough to pursue. I learned how to stop being afraid of how people view me and realised that it was okay to be myself. I learned how to shrug and say "that's okay" if someone decides they don't like me rather than fretting over it and trying to change their minds. I now also volunteer for a fantastic company (not the organisation above) that has me feeling like I'm making a worthwhile contribution to young people's lives even during my downtime and is consistently supplying me with more opportunities - including one this summer. I've met some amazing people during the past year or so, and without everything that has happened I would never have met my loving and supportive partner.
TL;DR life was good when I first joined TBT, then it turned to ****, but I've fought my way out of it and learned a lot from it.
Late 2017-18 was an uphill battle where I was trying to come out of that place, but it felt like life kept kicking me back down. I immersed myself in student politics fighting for LGBT+ rights, being elected as a representative for my college and attending national events, and ended up taking up volunteering with an organisation where I took over the role of one of my late friends (and I am still in this role, and doing my best in it to honour her memory, to this date).
Eventually I learned how to work with the set-backs, and accept that they were happening for a greater reason. The biggest difference in my life though has been this past year. I finally had the opportunity to work in a field I'm passionate about (sciences), but back in school never felt I was smart enough to pursue. I learned how to stop being afraid of how people view me and realised that it was okay to be myself. I learned how to shrug and say "that's okay" if someone decides they don't like me rather than fretting over it and trying to change their minds. I now also volunteer for a fantastic company (not the organisation above) that has me feeling like I'm making a worthwhile contribution to young people's lives even during my downtime and is consistently supplying me with more opportunities - including one this summer. I've met some amazing people during the past year or so, and without everything that has happened I would never have met my loving and supportive partner.
TL;DR life was good when I first joined TBT, then it turned to ****, but I've fought my way out of it and learned a lot from it.
