"I'm a little red balloon, happy as can be. I don't care that I'm weighed down - hey, at least I'm me."

When I was 13, I wrote this rudimentary poem when I felt absolutely useless - ultimately, it served as a way of taking ownership of my problems and flaws, acknowledging that I wasn't going to make them disappear, accepting myself as I was, and being grateful for existing.

After revisiting that poem 8 years later, I've decided to take it a step further by striving to celebrate and love myself for everything I am. I am constantly grateful for the gift of life as the individual I have become and continue to grow as. I am letting go of everything that ever held me down before.