Problems

My parents split up when I was 3 years old. I lived with my mom while my dad traveled across Canada for work. He said that he was done being a fisherman and was going to focus on construction. I never felt normal.

I would see my dad on some holidays while I was growing up. He was mostly only in the area for a day or so. He would often choose beer and drugs over me. I could never understand why he would tell me that he was coming to see me and never showed up, or why he seemed like he didn't care about me. I felt like my world was being torn apart right in front of me.

Most of the kids in all my different classes in all the different schools I went to had only one parent or a step-parent. But I never wanted to just have one. I have always wanted booth.

I had a hard life growing up. I moved every 6 months. I never made friends easy. When I just started to get to know someone I would move again. Switching schools multiple times along the way. Multiple times I wished that I lived at my grandparents or with my fathers family.

In elementary school I didn't have many friends. I mostly kept to myself and used music to cope with the way I was feeling. In 5th grade I started cutting. I grew more distant than ever from everyone. I felt so alone.

I was dealing with physical, verbal, and sexual abuse. I tried to shut myself out from the world. I didn't know that you called what I was going through as these things until a few years later. I didn't have a close enough relationship with anyone to try to explain what I was going through. All I knew was that it was wrong.

A few years later, I entered highschool and became depressed to the point that I wanted to quit school in the 10th grade. I also developed OCD (Obsesive Compulsive Disorder). Causing me to go to see the shrink 3 times a week. Missing class ever chance I could. On top of that I was a straight A student who was constantly being compared to others as if I wasn't good enough.

In that same year I had finally had access to the internet. I found out the terms for what I was going through. I confided in my teacher. It didn't go how I wanted it to go. Social workers got involved. The whole 12 communities in my school district were all talking about me. They all some how knew overnight.

In 2012 I was ready to call it quits. I was smoking. I was drinking. I was doing bong hits of weed. I even was still cutting myself. Anything to numb the pain. I overdosed on prescription meds multiple times that year. I was considered crazy. I was considered the outcast. I wanted to die.

I still don't have a relationship with my father, but I ended up with an amazing step-dad not long after I turned 15. My mom finally found someone and settled down. He helped me with all the problems I was going through.

I eventually turned my life around through the help of my local youth center and newly found support system, including my step-dad. I started cooking classes, and helped with the elementary ones too. I also started getting lost in the library books and acknowledged my love for reading.

I eventually graduated high school in 2015.

I am now working hard, at a good job. I am pushing through my past and focusing on the future with the help of my soon to be husband. I got through the struggles of childhood and high school nearly killed me but I am growing up, making mistakes along the way and learning from my mistakes 1 step at a time.