Magic Mirror

Strong 🇺🇸

Hi! I'm Aya and I am from USA 🇺🇸 and THIS IS MY STORY.

I was born into a dysfunctional family and at a young age I thought it was normal for family to constantly argue and fight. And beyond that I feel like my life was still good. I got along with my cousin and my grandma, and they loved me to bits and I had so many friends and I loved the neighbors, I loved my life but, my parents could no longer live in the same house.

It stayed that way until 2007 when my parents made the final decision to moved away from the hostility. So in 2008 we finally moved out of from my grandma's house, yet little did we know my mom was pregnant with my younger brother . We began our life in Pico Rivera and it was scary for me ( imagine starting over in a new place not known to you knowing absolutely no one.) and it only became worse.

I was starting 3rd grade and as you can guess it didn't take long for the other kids to start picking on me. It stayed that way until 4th grade and the same bullies constantly picking on me for no reason.I would go home and cry only at night because I did not want my parents to know how bad it was.

I told my older sister eventually and told me "Be confident and stay strong don't let any one bring you down otherwise you give them power.". So after that I chose to not let it hurt me. I spoke up and defended myself and finally it stopped, so my 5th grade was nice and quiet well, at least at school but at home things were falling apparently between my family and the rest of my fathers family, up until the communication between family came to a complete stop. It didn't seem like much for my family but to me it was the final string of my happiness being cut.

My grandma mother was something else. She was a strong single mother she worked multiple jobs in order to take care 4 kids. Tell me how a mother can work multiple jobs still cook every meal for her kids and find time to learn math in order to help her kids with their homework. It wasn't just any math it was literal physics- she learned physics on her own in order to teach my uncle because he was having such a hard time and she saw that so she went to her nearest library she got a card she got all the books on physics and she just worked her ass off until she understood it herself and was able to teach her son.

As her kids grew up they had kids and well my parents popped out with me and everyone knew I was her little princess no one could touch a hair on my head without fearing my grandmothers wrath. I loved her like she was the last star in my galaxy and knowing I would be pulled away from her broke me.

I became angry and hurt for a long time and my behavior only became worse entering middle school. I was the kid who was constantly sent to the office. I was there so often I was on first name basis with the staff they even use me if they needed any errands done. I wasn't bullied my 6th grade at all since I was technically in the office all the time but I eventually met a teacher at the end of my 6th grade year who basically helped me so much that I chose to change back to my old self. So that entire summer I just try to be the best kid I could be once again and when I entered my 7th grade everything started turning bad again .

Again I was a target of bullying but this time it was worse this time it became physical. There was this one girl who hated me so much she chose to make my life a living hell so much so that she involved all her friends and anyone who wasn't involved in order to stay out of it just stood by and watched as these girls who are older than me just threw trash in my face and would push me down to the floor and just talk down to me.

She and her friends will follow me around during lunch I would be quiet and they would just shove food into my face and say you look hungry porky why don't you have my leftovers. They would proceed to shove their trash into my face and video it. There in the locker rooms I would be tormented so much so I would be shoved into a corner they would yell and laugh and throw trash all over me no one ever saw which upset me so much until one day a Gym helper saw and helped me and she told P.E teacher what she saw and I told her nothing because I knew had I told her things were just become very very worse.

It was at this point in time that I became suicidal.

(I'll spare you the details on that due to its how graphic my attempts were). I finished up middle school and headed to High school and I never let a soul hurt me the way those awful people did in the past. I met friends and I became somewhat happy but I had no confidence and I was ashamed of who I was as a person did to my past I felt as if I didn't belong anywhere and I wasn't someone who could be loved and it stayed like that for my four years in high school. I graduated High school in 2017 and soon after I lost my bestfriend due to epilepsy but he now watches over me as a Guardian angel .

I was already working and I was on my way home from work when on the radio I heard Mic Drop on 102.7 KISS FM. I went home and I was curious so I looked them up and since that day I've been obsessed with them, they introduced the self-love campaign to me and I fell in love with them even more.

Somehow 7 men from across the world were able to show me and help me on the path to loving myself for who I am and showing me that it's Ok to just be Me. There's no other person that can live my life but me.

I choose to love and give love to whom ever is willing to take it even for some who aren't willing to take it.

I will continue to spread the message said it is OKAY TO LOVE YOURSELF. We are enough just as we are we don't need to change for anyone who doesn't believe we aren't great as we are.

I will continue to spread the self-love message and I would want others to spread it as well. We should never hurt anyone because they are different we should encourage them to be happy that they're different.

I thank BTS for showing me that it's OKAY to be DIFFERENT and it's OKAY to LOVE OURSELVES for who we truly are.

Thank you for listening! Borahae!