As a child, I dreamt of a life full of happy times and parents that loved me like the parents of friends I had growing up. This was something that I would not have until years later. My story consists of what some might call horrors, and what some might call normal for them. This story is for both of those, but more for those who lived through those horrors every day. It is a story of self-destruction and how those behaviors led me down a path of self-loathing and self-hate and how all those experiences brought me to where I am today. Today, I am at a place of self-love and forgiveness, and not just for myself, which was the hardest of all, but for those who did the horrible things they did to me. Today, I use my experiences and what I learned along the way to help those who have experienced similar pasts and help to show them that there is hope and that they are not alone.