Right. I use to measure my success as a person through the approval of others. I wasn't well liked when I was younger. I was just, always the weird one I guess. Even though I fought so hard for approval, for friends, for a place, it seemed I wasn't meant it for it. My success was how long I could keep a friend, which up until this year, wasn't very long.

I'm not a perfect person. Sometimes its hard for me to accept that not everyone will like me. It scares me. It makes me want to push people away. So I do. I push them into the farthest corner, where they can't touch me. I figure if I can't see them, they can't see right through me. It's not true.

I am lucky. I have these awesome friends. I have these girls in my life that I've said so many hurtful things, but they still take me back. They smile and tell me it's okay, and even if it's not, it will be someday. A promise I can hold onto. I do. Tightly. Now that I have them back, I don't want to let go. I don't want to burn the bridge when it's taken so long to build it again.

Success. I am successful student. I make good grades. I pass tests. My teachers like me. Success. I am not liked by all my peers. I am only human. I am not perfect. Success. I can speak my mind. I am not afraid to be wrong.

I feel good. Alive. Whole. I'm happy. Happiness is not fleeting. We just scare it away sometimes. I am happy. I am positive. Perfect, no. But happy. Successful. I am who I am because I want to be. It's not because I want to be different.


Success.
It's not whether you make good grades or have a lot of friends, it's being who you are because you are proud of who you were, who you are, and who you are going to become.